MANILA (PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - The Philippines is suffering from a silent pandemic - childhood stunting as a result of under-nutrition, according to the World Bank.

In a report titled "Under-nutrition in the Philippines: Scale, Scope, and Opportunities for Nutrition Policy and Programming", the World Bank found that in 2019, 29 per cent of Filipino children aged five or younger - or one in every three of these children - had stunted growth.

This meant they were smaller in height compared with healthier children of the same age.

Across the East Asia and Pacific region, the Philippines had the fifth-highest prevalence of stunting. Worldwide, the country was in the top 10.

"The stunting prevalence of children in the Philippines is of 'very high' public health significance," said the report which was posted on the World Bank's website on Tuesday (June 15).

The report pointed out that there are regions within the country with levels of stunting that exceed 40 per cent of the population.

In Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, 45 per cent of children aged below five are stunted; in Mimaropa, it is 41 per cent; Bicol Region, 40 per cent; Western Visayas, 40 per cent; and in Soccsksargen, 40 per cent."

The World Bank blamed stunting mainly on micro-nutrient under-nutrition, which affected infants, children and even pregnant women.

"The persistence of very high levels of childhood under-nutrition, despite decades of economic growth and poverty reduction, could lead to a staggering loss of the country's human and economic potential," the international lender said.

"A Filipino child with optimal nutrition will have greater cognitive development, stay in school longer, learn more in school, and have a brighter future as an adult, while under-nutrition robs other children of their chance to succeed," the World Bank added.

The organisation also found 19 per cent of Filipino children in 2019 to be underweight, while 6 per cent of those aged five and below were considered "wasted", that is, they had significant weight loss compared to their height, mainly due to starvation or disease.

"When viewed through the lens of the World Bank's Human Capital Index (HCI), the country's...HCI score of 0.52 predicts that the future productivity of children born today will be 48 per cent below what they might achieve if they were to enjoy complete education and full health," the report said.

The World Bank said this index "measures the amount of human capital that a child born today can expect to attain by age 18, given the risks of poor health and poor education that prevail in country."

The World Bank noted that the past 30 years saw "almost no improvements in the prevalence of under-nutrition in the Philippines".

It further pointed out the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the sharp rise of hunger in the country, citing surveys by the Social Weather Stations.

The World Bank said the Philippines should "build a strong and more coordinated partnership for nutrition (by strengthening) the National Nutrition Council supervisory and oversight capacities".

The World Bank also recommended securing adequate domestic funding for nutrition-related programmes.

The organisation is due to lend the Philippines US$200 million (S$265 million) to address child stunting in the country.