Except for one, all seven municipalities which recently received a total of P12.9 million in grants under the first tranche of the Philippine Multisectoral Nutrition Project (PMNP) have the highest percentage of childhood stunting in Catanduanes.
The recipient towns and the amounts released to them by the Department of Health Center for Health Development (DOH-CHD) V are: Bagamanoc, P1,923,754.91; Caramoran, P2.367,230.23; Gigmoto, P1,859,879.49; San Andres, P2,531,343.91; San Miguel, P2,046,425.59; Viga, P2.184,620.31; and Virac, P3.346,203.09.
With Bicol having the second highest percentage of stunting in the country, the project are being implemented in four provinces: Camarines Sur—30 towns with P82.4 million worth of projects; Catanduanes—seven towns, P16.2 million; Masbate—16 towns, P41.6 million; and Sorsogon—seven towns with P18.9 million in grants.
Under the project funded by the World Bank, the second tranche of the grants will be given in 2025, provided that 80 percent of the first tranche has already been utilized.
The Performance-Based Grants are to be utilized in enhancing nutrition programs, with the local chief executives expressing their commitment to implementing PMNP programs and activities in their respective towns during the Catanduanes Stakeholders’ Forum and Awarding of Grants last Aug. 7, 2024 at Rakdell Inn.
The PMNP aims to increase the use of “nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive” interventions to improve key health behaviors that are linked to reducing stunting in targeted regions and local government units, Provincial DOH Officer Dr. Robert John S. Aquino stressed.
The goal of the project, which will focus on the first 1,000 days of a child, is to change the understanding of social behavior and communication strategy in the general aspect of nutrition.
Aside from the grants, the identified LGUs will receive primary health care and nutrition commodities, municipal grant allocation (MGA) for the covered communities/barangays, and capacity building and technical assistance packages.
The project is focused on the following indicators: Antenatal Care, Complimentary Feeding, Exclusive Breastfeeding, Percentage of Household Convergence, Local Nutrition Action Plan (LNAP) Quality, Masterlisting Profiling, and Rural Health Unit Quality Checklist.
For the other four towns not included in the PMNP (Baras, Pandan, Panganiban and Bato), the provincial government will provide augmentation for their respective nutrition action programs.
According to the results of the Operation Timbang conducted among 19,996 children aged 0-59 months old out of the target of 30,200 province-wide in the first quarter of 2024, the town of Gigmoto leads all 11 towns in the percentage of stunting (20.16%), wasting (3.28%) and underweight kids (11.25%).
Except for San Miguel, which is 11th in the list, all the other six recipients are in the top seven towns with the biggest percentage of stunting, wasting and underweight children.
Here’s how the other towns fared in the OPT:
Stunting – Viga, 15.59%; Caramoran, 14.84%; San Andres, 14.83%; Baras, 14.38%; Bagamanoc, 13.91%; Virac, 13.70%; Pandan, 13.29%; Panganiban, 11.66%; Bato, 11.28%; and San Miguel, 8.57%.
Wasting – Bato, 2.39%; San Andres, 2.78%; Bagamanoc, 1.65%; Viga, 1,55%; Caramoran, 1.53%; Virac, 1.40%; Baras, 1.39%; Panganiban, 1.17%; and San Miguel, 0.17%.
Underweight children – Pandan, 10.94%; Virac, 9.93%; San Andres, 9.91%; Viga, 9.24%; Caramoran, 8.76%; Baras, 8.48%; Panganiban, 8.16%; Bagamanoc, 7.02%; Bato, 6.72%; and San Miguel, 5.86%.
Baras led other towns in the OPT result for overweight children with 3.22%, followed by San Andres (3.09%), Bato (2.89%), Virac (2.83%), Panganiban (2.33%), San Miguel (2.21%), Bagamanoc (2.20%), Pandan (1.95%), Gigmoto (1.88%), Viga (1.75%) and Caramoran (1.45%).
The PMNP regional coordinator disclosed that the municipalities were chosen based on the number of stunted children, pregnant women, lactating mothers, and adolescent children in their areas from the survey conducted by the National Nutrition Council, while the performance-based grants were determined from the internal and external verification conducted by various teams on the ground.
According to the World Health Organization, low weight-for-height is known as wasting, with a young child who is moderately or severely wasted having an increased risk of death, but treatment is possible.
On the other hand, low height-for-age is known as stunting, which results from chronic or recurrent undernutrition, usually associated with poor socioeconomic conditions, poor maternal health and nutrition, frequent illness, and/or inappropriate infant and young child feeding and care in early life. Stunting holds children back from reaching their physical and cognitive potential, the WHO states.
Children with low weight-for-age are considered underweight. A child who is underweight may be stunted, wasted, or both, it adds.