MANILA — President Marcos on Wednesday launched a P10-billion program aimed at addressing malnutrition in the country citing the role of well-nourished and healthy citizens in economic development.
Speaking at the launch of the Philippine Multisectoral Nutrition Project (PMNP) at the Manila Hotel, Marcos warned against the insidiousness of the malnutrition problem.
“Malnutrition is, in turn, linked to long-term adverse developmental impacts, taking its toll on our people’s learning ability, academic performance, all the way to productivity and employment opportunities – and it also carries with it hereditary implications,” he said.
The PMNP adopts a multi-sectoral community participatory approach, where services go straight to local government units (LGUs) most in need of interventions, including health care and nutrition, according to the President.
“Usually, health does not – health care does not become a priority (of LGUs) simply because there’s little capacity and ability and skills and manpower on the local level to be able to achieve all the threshold levels, let us say, of health care, of nutrition and all of these things that we are now recognizing to be an important part to the solution of malnutrition,” he said.
The PMNP, which is being funded through a loan from the World Bank, will be implemented in 275 municipalities until 2025.
Of the total, 40 municipalities are located in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
Marcos cited the recent Expanded National Nutrition Survey, which showed a high incidence of stunting among Filipino children.
“This is not to say that only the young are vulnerable. Other age groups are not spared from these nutritional problems,” he said.
Based on government data, the program will benefit about 977,626 stunted children.
Meanwhile, Marcos said they are looking at incentivizing LGUs that will successfully implement the program.
“As if these were not enough, the program will also incentivize the participating LGUs. And we were just having a very quick discussion about how that should be – how we can achieve that,” he said.
The Chief Executive also urged Congress to continue crafting measures that will help eradicate malnutrition and uplift the standards of primary health care and nutrition in the country.
