Wednesday, October 10, 2012

6 MILLION PNOY KIDS MALNOURISHED-- UNICEF


From: philstar.com

The United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) says an estimated six million Filipino children are malnourished, 60,000 of whom are vulnerable to sexual exploitation and at least 66 percent under the age of six are without childcare.

Abdul Alim, Unicef country representative, said malnutrition has long been an issue among children in Mindanao.

“Malnutrition is an especially serious concern for Mindanao, where a significant number of children are already undernourished,” Alim said

Last week, the Social Weather Stations (SWS) released its third quarter findings that showed 21 percent or at least 4.3 million households experienced having nothing to eat in the last three months, up from 18.4 percent in May.

This was due to an 18 percent increase in moderate hunger – defined as experiencing having nothing to eat once or a few times.

Officials of a non-government organization said the lack of a comprehensive national food policy is one major reason for the high incidence of hunger.

FoodFirst Information and Action Network (FIAN) Philippines president Aurea Miclat-Teves said there is an urgent need to craft policies, and for the full and active participation of all concerned, including those most vulnerable to hunger.###

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