By Joseph B.A. Marzan
The National Nutrition Council (NNC) Region 6 on Friday reported that the prevalence of nutritional concerns among early-aged children in Western Visayas declined in 2022.
The NNC-6’s Nutrition Situation Update Report 2023 indicated a decrease in the prevalence of stunting, wasting, and overweightness and obesity among preschool children (PSC) between 0 to 59 months old (0 to almost 5 years old).
The council’s Oplan Timbang Plus (OPT Plus) found that 5.15 percent of the weighted PSCs experienced stunting or had a low height for their age. This is lower compared to 6.85 percent in 2021, 7.13 percent in 2020, 7.64 percent in 2019, and 8.45 percent in 2018.
OPT Plus is an annual measurement of the weight and length or height of PSCs in a community. Length is measured from 0 to 23 months (0 to almost 2 years old) and height from 24 to 59 months old (2 to almost 5 years old).
Antique had the highest prevalence of stunting last year (9.83 percent), followed by Negros Occidental including Bacolod City (7.34 percent), Iloilo province and Iloilo City (5.37 percent), Aklan (4.87 percent), Guimaras (4.84 percent), and Capiz (4.49 percent).
The top 10 cities with the most stunted PSCs are San Carlos City (12.12 percent), followed by Escalante City (5.29 percent), Himamaylan City (4.61 percent), Passi City (4.52 percent), La Carlota City (4.42 percent), Victorias City (4.34 percent), Sagay City (3.04 percent), Cadiz City (3.23 percent), Iloilo City (2.83 percent), and Bacolod City (2.76 percent).
Stunting refers to a child having a height less than their age (under height-for-age), potentially due to chronic undernutrition or inadequate food to promote growth for a long period of time or frequent duration of illnesses at some point in the past.
Wasting, or having a low weight-to-height ratio (underweight-for-height) may be due to acute food deprivation or the presence of illnesses, has also gone down to 1.41 percent in 2022, likewise following a trend, from 1.85 percent in 2021, 2 percent in 2020, 2.53 percent in 2019, and 2.62 percent in 2018.
Negros Occidental, including Bacolod City, logged the most cases of wasting among PSCs (2.19 percent), followed by Antique (2.11 percent), Aklan (1.65 percent), Iloilo province (1.33 percent) including Iloilo City, Capiz (1.21 percent), and Guimaras (0.88 percent).
San Carlos City also logged the most wasted PSCs in the region’s cities (5.25 percent), followed by Escalante City (2.97 percent), Himamaylan City (1.31 percent), Victorias City (1.05 percent), Silay City and Passi City (1.04 percent each), Roxas City and Iloilo City (1.03 percent each), La Carlota City (0.96 percent), and Cadiz City and Sipalay City (0.9 percent), Sagay City (0.66 percent), and Kabankalan City (0.61 percent).
Overweightness or obesity declined for the first time at 2.01 percent in 2022, breaking an uptrend that started in 2019 with 2.25 percent, 2.41 percent in 2020, and 2.62 percent in 2021.
Capiz and Guimaras logged the highest incidents of overweightness and obesity (2.96 percent each), followed by Aklan (2.85 percent), Antique (2.79 percent), Iloilo province (2.72 percent) including Iloilo City, and Negros Occidental (1.73 percent) including Bacolod City.
Among the top 10 cities, San Carlos City also had the highest (3.64 percent), followed by Iloilo City (2.32 percent), Roxas City (2.28 percent), Himamaylan City (1.68 percent), Sipalay City (1.56 percent), Kabankalan City (1.52 percent), La Carlota City (1.45 percent), Cadiz City (1.8 percent), Passi City (1.24 percent), and Talisay City (0.91 percent).
Overweightness is considered a condition of overnutrition from the consumption of an excessive quantity of food, or weighing too much for one’s length or height, while obesity refers to the condition of being severely overweight.
The NNC-6 explained that the nutrition status of the PSCs was determined using the Child Growth Standards (CGS) set by national and international health authorities.
A total of 588,246 PSC were weighed by the NNC-6 in 2022, comprising 49,657 from Antique, 43,880 from Aklan, 45,101 from Capiz, 15,038 from Guimaras, 146,754 from Iloilo (including Iloilo City), and 93,732 from Negros Occidental (including Bacolod City).
Guimaras had the highest coverage of PSCs weighted with the OPT Plus (85.50 percent), followed by Negros Occidental (85.40 percent) including Bacolod City, Iloilo province (81.35 percent) including Iloilo City, Capiz (78.08 percent), Aklan (73.60 percent), and Antique (72.66 percent).
Data from the report was sourced from the NNC’s e-OPT Plus Report 2022, which itself was culled from data submitted from the barangay level to the municipal or city, to the provincial levels, and endorsed to the regional agency.
