Isang summit para tugunan ang problema sa malnutrisyon at child stunting o pagkabansot ang ikinakasa ng House Committee on Poverty Alleviation.
Ayon kay 1-PACMAN party-list Rep. Michael Romero, chair ng Komite, mahalagang masolusyunan ang naturang problema na kakabit ng isyu sa kagutuman.
May epekto din kasi aniya ito sa kinakailangang budget at pag-unlad ng bansa.
“We want to address these interconnected problems, along with hunger and poverty, and recommend solutions. We intend to give them top priority. If we have a large number of malnourished children, that would require a bigger budgetary appropriation for healthcare and health facilities, depriving other social services like education and infrastructure of much-needed funding,” paliwanag ng kinatawan.
Target ni Romero na imbitahan ang Department of Social Welfare at Development and Department of Health, private sector groups kasama ang Management Association of the Philippines (MAP), at iba pang stakeholder.
“We want to come up with a holistic approach to solving malnutrition and child development stunting, and of course to poverty, which is the underlying problem,” ani Romero.
Ayon sa MAP, ang Pilipinas ang panglima sa mga bansa sa East Asia at Pacific na may mataas na child stunting.
Habang sa datos naman ng Philippine Institute for Development Studies 1/3 ng mga batang Pilipino ang stunted o chronically malnourished. | ulat ni Kathleen Jean Forbes
