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Malnutrition in the Philippines

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Submitted By gulapai
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INTRODUCTION
Existing knowledge about the effect of nutrition on the development and educational outcomes in children and the current dietary practices of schoolchildren has led to specific questions about the impact of nutritional intake on the educational experience. The diet of children has risen to the top of the political agenda, not only for the potential health repercussions later in life, but also for its immediate effects on the physical and mental health of children and their consequent school experience and attainment. Child malnutrition still remains as one of the biggest problems that constrain school children from attending or performing well in school.
Based on a Department of Education analysis of 50 public primary or elementary schools in some of the most impoverished provinces in the country, an average of up to 30 percent or almost one-third of the students weighed and interviewed were either mildly or severely malnourished. This echoes a World Health Organization report that over 30 percent of children in the country are malnourished.
When you say malnutrition, it just means bad nutrition. Everyone who has bad nutrition usually does not have nutrients that a healthy body has. Children are usually the ones being affected by this condition, especially here in the Philippines. Child health is known to have important long-term effects on productivity during adulthood. As children are the future of every country, their situation is always of concern to policy makers, their parents and the general public. Ensuring children's health is a universally supported goal of development. Some may just shrug off shoulders in this case but malnutrition is a serious national problem that should be solved in the nearest possible time. This condition can lead to death.
Using Philippine standards, protein-energy malnutrition affects 8.4% of Filipino children below

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