While the country continues to combat COVID-19, the PNFC is also continuing the fight against child malnutrition in the Philippines.

Child undernutrition is one of the pressing problems in our country. The 2018 Expanded Nutritional Survey shows that the Philippines has a high wasting (low weight-for-height) and stunting (low height-for-age) prevalence. Children 0-5 years old have 19.2% (girls) and 19.1% (boys) wasting prevalence and 29.4 % (girls) and 31.1%(boys) stunting prevalence. Meanwhile, children 5.08-10 years old have 22.0% (girls) and 27.9% (boys) wasting prevalence and 22.6 % (girls) and 26.5%(boys) stunting prevalence. With the current COVID-19 pandemic, it’s possible that these numbers will rise if the problem remains unaddressed. Physical health issues bring with them a slew of other problems for a child–isolation, cognitive and behavioral problems,  and poor educational outcomes, to name a few. Improved nutrition is one of the keys to improve a child’s behavior, academic performance, and overall health. 

Realizing this problem, government agencies have initiated programs and projects with the PNFC to address the need to improve health and nutrition among children. For the past months in 2020, the PNFC has supplied millions of Nutripacks, Nutri-Foods Fortified Milk Powder, and Nutri-foods Micronutrient Powder (MNP) for government feeding programs nationwide.

PNFC NutriPacks contain a combination of all or some of the following Nutri-Foods products: Fortified Rice Porridge (Beef, Chicken, Champorado, Beef Pares, Kaldereta, Burger Steak flavors), Nutri-foods Fortified Macaroni Soup (Chicken and beef flavors), and Fortified Saucy Pasta (Spaghetti, Cheese and Bacon, Carbonara, and Cream of Chicken and Corn flavors).  The rice porridge, macaroni soup, and saucy pasta are all ready-to-cook and have a total caloric content of 215.5 kcal, 209.6 kcal, and 220.9 kcal respectively. For protein content, the rice porridge has 5.7 grams, macaroni soup has 8.1 grams, and saucy pasta has 8.7 grams. They are also fortified with Vitamin A and are inclusive of one sachet of VitaMeena MNP. One VitaMeena MNP  sachet contains 1.2 grams of micronutrient powder made of 22 vitamins and minerals. It can simply be added into the food to strengthen a child’s immune system. Meanwhile, the  Fortified Milk Powder or NutriMilk comes in chocolate and natural milk flavors and has zero artificial sugar. Moreover, it contains nutrients to help enhance the body and brain development of growing school children. One serving already meets 37% RENI of children ages 4-6 years old and has just the right amount of sodium to avoid obesity and kidney and heart problems.

PNFC is currently distributing NutriPacks and NutriMilk to 167,678 beneficiaries, 148 LGUs, and 464 schools. 

Sources:

Lina, J. (2020, July 27). Malnutrition in the Philippines is worse than pandemic. Manila Bulletin. https://mb.com.ph/2020/07/27/malnutrition-in-the-philippines-is-worse-than-pandemic/

Papica, M.P. (2020, February 17). Poverty, malnutrition, and education. School Division Office City of Naga. http://www.depednaga.ph/?p=5787

Philippine Nutrifoods Corporation. Food Products. https://nutrifoods.com.ph/product-category/food-products/

Philippine Statistics Authority. (2020). Health and Nutrition of Women and Men in the Philippines [Infographic]. https://psa.gov.ph/system/files/2020%20Health%20and%20Nutrition%20Infographics%20for%20Women%20and%20Men.pdf?width=950&height=700&iframe=true

PNFC Tie-ups with DSWD and DepEd. Philippine Nutri-Foods Corporation. 

UNICEF Philippines. (2019, August 3). Addressing stunting and malnutrition should go beyond Nutrition Month celebration. https://www.unicef.org/philippines/press-releases/addressing-stunting-and-malnutrition-should-go-beyond-nutrition-month-celebration

UNICEF Philippines. (2019, October 16). UNICEF: Many children and adolescents in the Philippines are not growing up healthily: More children and young people are eating unhealthy food. https://www.unicef.org/philippines/press-releases/unicef-many-children-and-adolescents-philippines-are-not-growing-healthily