TURNING POINT: The Stunted Future

NAAWAN, Misamis Oriental (MindaNews / 29 Jan) — The economy is growing but 1 out of 4 children are stunted, reported the Department of Health. That means 26.7 percent or one in every four children under 5 years old in the country are shorter for their age.

Of what significance is a growing economy if the children are not growing?

The children are our future. What kind of a future shall we have with such kind of children?

Stunted kids result from malnutrition, poverty, an unhealthy environment, and a poor health support system. Malnourishment begins during the period of a poor mother’s pregnancy—the conceiving woman has no access to a proper diet or the right amount of food and safe water, and is most likely to prenatal services, too.

Poor women are always pregnant. Because among the poor sex is the easiest available form of pleasure, though not the cheapest in the long run. Thus pregnancy is often yearly. They are reluctant to go to health centers because, if they are not shamed, they would be castigated by health workers for their repetitive pregnancy.

The child in the womb of a malnourished woman is also malnourished. It comes out from the womb small and sickly and may compete with its older sibling for its mother’s milk. Thus both are malnourished and stunted.

More often than not, malnourished kids are slow learners and poor performers; many cannot stay long in school for that reason. Mentally and academically deficient, they soon would join the country’s working force at the bottom of the pyramid, and suffer from irregular jobs and low pay, perpetuating their poverty and misery in the process. That is, raising a large and financially unsustainable family, with malnourished and out-of-school kids.

Poverty repeats itself.

(MindaViews is the opinion section of MindaNews. William R. Adan, Ph.D., is retired professor and former chancellor of Mindanao State University at Naawan, Misamis Oriental.)