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EJ Macababbad - The Philippine Star
June 8, 2025 | 12:00am
The survey, conducted by the Department of Science and Technology-Food and Nutrition Research Institute (DOST-FNRI), found that 19.1 percent of pregnant participants recorded a low body mass index (BMI) during the nine months of pregnancy.
Pixabay / File
MANILA, Philippines — One out of five pregnant Filipino women is at risk of delivering a malnourished baby due to being nutritionally at risk, according to the second part of the 2023 National Nutrition Survey released on Thursday.
The survey, conducted by the Department of Science and Technology-Food and Nutrition Research Institute (DOST-FNRI), found that 19.1 percent of pregnant participants recorded a low body mass index (BMI) during the nine months of pregnancy.
This figure rose by three percentage points from 16.1 percent reported in the 2021 Expanded National Nutrition Survey.
By age group, 20.9 percent of pregnant women aged 20 and above are nutritionally at risk, while 19 percent are adolescents aged 19 and younger.
Frances Pola Arias, a science research specialist at DOST-FNRI, emphasized that delivering malnourished infants “makes them vulnerable to developing diseases,” she told reporters during the survey’s launch in Makati.
Health workers obtain a pregnant woman’s BMI during her first trimester, according to a 2023 report by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
However, some worry that women becoming nutritionally at risk during their second or third trimesters are going undetected if only their first-semester BMI is considered.
The World Health Organization (WHO) revised its antenatal care guidelines in November 2016, recommending that women contact their doctors eight times during pregnancy to “detect and manage potential complications.”
However, some countries, including the Philippines and Indonesia, still follow the basic antenatal care model of four contacts.
A survey revealed that only 22.7 percent adhered to the WHO’s eight-contact recommendation, while 75 percent of pregnant women communicated with their doctors four times.
Despite this, most pregnant women are taking steps to care for themselves during this sensitive and vulnerable time.
Data from DOST-FNRI showed that over three quarters regularly check their blood pressure and take micronutrient supplements, the most common being ferrous sulfate.
Filipinos, nevertheless, are largely unaware of the benefits of taking deworming drugs, which can reduce the risk of infant mortality in the first four weeks by 14 percent, according to WHO.
Only three percent of women took such drugs during their first trimester, down from 3.7 percent in 2021, as a third of Filipinos reported that their doctors had not prescribed them.
