THE National Nutrition Council-Davao Region (NNC-Davao) reported a slight decline in the number of children affected by stunting, underweight, and obesity in the region in 2025 compared to 2024.
Alona E. Teo, nutrition officer of NNC-Davao, said that stunting in the region decreased to 5.1 percent in 2025 from 5.8 percent in 2024. Underweight also decreased to 2.6 percent from 2.9 percent, while obesity declined to 1.4 percent from 1.5 percent. Meanwhile, wasting remained at 0.7 percent from 2024 to 2025.
Teo attributed the decrease in the rate of stunting, underweight, and obesity in children to their aggressive campaign focusing on the first 1,000 days of a child's life, during which mothers are encouraged to breast-feed and discouraged from using milk formula.
She said that, apart from focusing on the first 1,000 days, they are also strengthening local government policies by encouraging investments in nutrition programs, as well as in community gardens such as Gulayan sa Paaralan and barangay gardens to provide better food options for children.
"Ang ating strategy as nandoon sa prevention, hindi po tayo sa curative but more on the prevention. So it's the first 1,000 days po (Our strategy focuses on prevention. We are not concentrating on curative care, but rather on prevention, especially during the first 1,000 days of life)," she said during the Kapehan sa Dabaw on July 6, 2026, at SM City Davao.
Nutrition situation of Davao Region
NNC reported that the top five municipalities with the highest rates of stunted and severely stunted children are Sarangani with 24.21 percent, Jose Abad Santos (JAS) with 21.49 percent, Laak with 15.22 percent, Talaingod with 14.28 percent, and Don Marcelino with 13.76 percent.
The top five municipalities with the highest rates of underweight and severely underweight children are Sarangani with 14.45 percent, Jose Abad Santos with 9.71 percent, Talaingod with 8.94 percent, Don Marcelino with 7.94 percent, and Padada with 6.09 percent.
Meanwhile, for overweight and obesity, Sarangani remained the area with the highest rate at 4.34 percent, followed by Padada with 3.92 percent, Jose Abad Santos with 3.24 percent, Hagonoy with 3.05 percent, and Manay with 2.91 percent.
In terms of wasting and severe wasting, the municipality with the highest rate is Jose Abad Santos with 6.36 percent, followed by Sarangani with 6.05 percent, Don Marcelino with 2.28 percent, Talaingod with 2.25 percent, and Padada with 2.07 percent.
Teo said that most of the municipalities with increased rates of stunting, underweight, obesity, and wasting are in Davao Occidental or are classified as Geographically Isolated and Disadvantaged Areas (GIDAs).
She acknowledged that one of the reasons for the higher cases of nutritional issues is that some government services have been unable to reach these areas. However, she added that the NNC is working to reach these communities to further reduce cases of stunting, underweight, obesity, and wasting in the region.
"Nagsusumikap po talaga tayo na parati-parati natin silang binibisita and have continuous engagement with the local government unit para mas magabay natin, mabigyan ng guidance kung paano po nila ma-strengthen yung implementation ng first 1,000 days," she said.
(We really strive hard to visit them regularly and maintain continuous engagement with the local government units so that we can provide better guidance on how they can strengthen the implementation of the First 1,000 Days program.)
Nutrition month
Through Presidential Decree No. 491 of 1974, July was declared as Nutrition Month, and the NNC was designated as the agency to lead the nationwide campaign on nutrition issues, encourage positive behavior change, and mobilize action against malnutrition.
This year's theme is "Nutrisyon at Kalikasan, Ating Pangalagaan!", which highlights the importance of taking care of the environment to keep the region food-resilient. The month-long celebration aims to promote human nutrition and environmental sustainability. RGP
