Acknowledging the UNICEF global report that one out of three Filipino children under five years old is stunted while seven percent of them are too thin for their height, Senator Leila M. de Lima raised alarm over the ballooning number of unhealthy Filipino children in the country.
The global report also said a tenth of Filipino adolescents are now overweight. it noted that children and adolescents in the Philippines have increased vulnerability to diseases due to poor health-seeking behavior, incomplete immunization, poor hygiene and care practices, and inadequate diet.
UNICEF also reportedly cited poor diet, inadequate nutrition and a failing food system as the top reasons why more and more Filipino children are not growing healthily these days.
Health authorities have attributed these conditions to failing food systems and improper diet. Macon Ramos-Araneta
De Lima, who chairs the Senate Committee on Social Justice, Welfare and Rural Development, was reacting to the Unicef global report warning against the rise of unhealthy Filipino children and adolescents.
She saidthat it is incumbent upon the government to promote health awareness and proper nutrition among Filipinos, especially the young ones, to protect them from developing detrimental health conditions in the long run and ensure a quality way of living for them. Macon Ramos-Araneta