The Department of Science and Technology expressed alarm over the P328-billion cost of hunger to the country since 2013.
At a media conference in Quezon City, Secretary Fortunato dela Peña cited a 2016 report of the Save the Children organization showing the high cost of hunger has caused P166.50 billion in lost income due to lower educational attainment, P1.23 billion in educational costs, and P160 billion in lost productivity due to premature mortality.
Citing another report of the United Nations Children’s Fund, Dela Peña said the Philippines is losing P220 billion per year due to undernutrition, and that over 29,000 Filipino children under five years old die every year.
An estimated P5 billion annually is needed for every key interventions, especially during the child’s first 1,000 days, he noted.
The DOST said it would need P3.94 billion to be able to help 3.28-million stunted children aged six to 47 months regain proper health.
A child must be fed with one pack of complementary food at P10 per day, or P32.82 million per day to feed 3.28-million stunted children in 120 feeding days “to effect change.”
Dela Peña said the DOST’s Food and Nutrition Research Institute backed the Duterte administration’s Philippine plan of action for nutrition for 2017 to 2022, the First 1,000 Days Law and the science for the people program.
These would improve child nutrition and health, and reduce malnutrition, either underweight or overweight as well as micronutrient deficiencies and non-communicable diseases of children, he said.