Marasigan,Nicole O.

BSN2-A

1. The latest nutrition situation in the Philippines is that malnutrition has been
reduced to a low level.. The Philippines is a country with a population of over
100 million. It has the highest rate of malnutrition in Southeast Asia, and one
of the highest rates in the world. The main causes are poverty and lack of
access to food, especially for children under five years old. In addition, there
is also an increase in obesity due to poor diet quality and lack of physical
activity.

 Malnutrition is defined as an inadequate intake of nutrients for growth,

development and health. In the Philippines, this means that children under five
years old have stunted growth (low height-for-age) resulting from insufficient food
intake;pregnant women are at risk of being anaemic due to insufficient iron intake
and adults have osteoporosis because they do not consume enough calcium or
vitamin D.

2. Children and adolescents who are not growing up healthily may suffer from
illness, malnutrition, poor physical growth, low self-esteem, depression or
even suicidal tendencies. The reasons for these problems include:
 Poor nutrition: Children and adolescents often do not get enough food to eat
because their parents cannot afford to buy them nutritious foods. This leads to a
lack of nutrients such as proteins, vitamins A and C which are essential for good
health. Lack of nutrients also causes poor growth rates among children and
adolescents since they cannot develop properly. Because of this, it becomes
difficult for children and adolescents to grow properly as they should.
 Another reason why children and adolescents in the Philippines do not grow up
healthily is because of their environment which has been polluted by chemicals
from factories or vehicles (Mendoza et al., 2014).