The Philippines remains trapped in an “intergenerational curse of malnutrition”—a crisis experts say could erode the country’s human capital and long-term development.
While the economy has grown, child stunting rates have barely improved, showing that growth alone cannot compensate for decades of underinvestment in maternal and early childhood nutrition.
“Malnutrition in the Philippines is widespread and gut-wrenching,” warned Dr. Valerie Gilbert Ulep, Senior Research Fellow and Program Director of the Health Economics and Finance Program (HEFP) at the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS).
“[We are the] epicenter of chronic malnutrition in the region. We can only break the curse by making children a national priority; by acting with urgency, coordination, and accountability,” he added.
Stunting linked to maternal health, prenatal nutrition
Experts stressed that the roots of stunting take hold long before a child is born, reflecting persistent gaps in maternal nutrition and prenatal care.
According to Ulep, stunting is closely linked to maternal health and nutrition.
“Shorter women are more likely to have smaller babies who grow up to be stunted adults themselves,” he explained. Undernourished mothers are more likely to give birth to low-birth-weight babies, who face a higher risk of stunting and developmental delays.
This biological link underscores the fact that malnutrition is not merely about food— it is a generational condition, reinforced when interventions begin too late, after the most critical window for growth (from conception to age 2) has passed.
The burden of inequality and poor diets
But biology is only one part of the crisis. Inequality, food access, and poor diet quality continue to drive widespread malnutrition.
UNICEF Philippines Nutrition Manager Alice Nkoroi highlighted that malnutrition disproportionately affects poor families and underserved regions.
“Children will basically eat rice with a snack that is high in salt or sugar. Obviously, this leads to all forms of malnutrition—not only stunting but also overweight and obesity in later years,” she noted.
PIDS Senior Research Specialist Lyle Daryll Casas added that protein intake remains critically inadequate.
“This disparity may be attributed to escalating food costs relative to income levels,” he explained.
He further noted that the growing dependence on ultra-processed foods—driven by affordability, accessibility, and aggressive marketing—has normalized poor dietary habits among Filipino households.
Bridging the nutrition budget gap
Despite available fiscal resources, experts noted that government spending remains misaligned with the interventions that matter most.
“The majority of our resources go to school feeding programs, but we continue to underprioritize cost-effective interventions during the first 1,000 days—when stunting can actually be prevented,” Ulep said. He emphasized that spending must be better tracked and linked to measurable nutrition outcomes.
Dr. Maria Asuncion Silvestre, founder of Kalusugan ng Mag-ina, Inc., echoed that many interventions begin too late in a child’s development.
“We target children that are already in the schools, where stunting is largely irreversible already,” she explained.
Silvestre called for realigning the national nutrition strategy on maternal nutrition, exclusive breastfeeding, and early-life feeding support.
“We need breastfeeding counseling to optimize breastfeeding practices so that we can address the health inequities because of a lack of appropriate infant and young child feeding practices,” she added.
Meanwhile, Department of Health (DOH) Supervising Health Program Officer Jennilyn Ygaña acknowledged that scaling and sustaining programs have long been difficult.
“Over the past decades, we have had a lot of small-scale interventions that fail to scale up and are not actually sustained because most of the time these interventions are donor-driven,” she said.
Still, she noted progress. The Universal Health Care (UHC) Act and the First 1,000 Days Act have laid a stronger foundation for integrated, life-stage approaches to nutrition.
“We are improving—we are able to reduce stunting—but not yet at the rate we expect. Still, we are moving toward that goal,” she added.
Raising the bar for the next generation
Ultimately, breaking the cycle of malnutrition requires long-term, convergent investments that support mothers and children in the first 1,000 days of life. This means ensuring consistent access to proper prenatal care, nutritious food, breastfeeding support, clean water, and quality health services.
These insights are drawn from the launch of “Raising the Bar: Understanding and Solving Chronic Malnutrition in the Philippines,” a book jointly published by PIDS and UNICEF Philippines that synthesizes five years of research on child nutrition and policy reforms.
The publication was launched on October 16 at Chardonnay by Astoria, Pasig City.
Watch the recording of the launch at https://bit.ly/pidslive101625 and download the book at https://bit.ly/RaisingtheBarBook. — MJCG
