UNDERNUTRITION in the Philippines is estimated to cost the economy up to $8.5 billion a year, according to Nutrition International’s Cost of Inaction Tool.
“In the Philippines, the cost of inaction is estimated to be $8.5 billion per year,” Nutrition International Health Economics Project Director Dylan Walters said in a briefing late Wednesday.
“A similar relative economic cost of around 2% of gross national income (GNI) is (attributed to) malnutrition,” he added.
The Cost of Inaction Tool estimates the health, human capital and economic costs of inaction on stunting, low birthweight and anemia in women and children across over 140 countries.
“As we know, child nutrition has a major effect on human capital loss, as well as educational performance and cognitive loss. That is a significant irreversible human capital deficit that we should be paying more attention to,” Mr. Walters said.
The annual cost of stunting in the Philippines is estimated at $8.1 billion or 1.9% of GNI, accounting for the bulk of the estimated losses.
“Stunting, or being too short for one’s age, is defined as a height that is more than two standard deviations below the World Health Organization (WHO) child growth standards median,” Nutrition International said.
“It is a largely irreversible outcome of inadequate nutrition and repeated bouts of infection during the first 1,000 days.”
Out of 23 countries in East Asia and the Pacific, the Philippines has the sixth-highest prevalence of stunting. In the world, it ranks 36th out of 175 countries.
The lower the ranking number means higher prevalence of the disease. — Luisa Maria Jacinta C. Jocson