The Philippines has only made it into the top 100 in a global ranking of the best and worst countries for children to grow up, putting it behind regional neighbors Vietnam, Thailand and China, a new report from Save the Children reveals.
Launched to coincide with International Children’s Day, Stolen Childhoods report comes with an index that examined countries against 8 indicators that impact children’s ability to have a safe, happy childhood, including rates of child mortality, undernutrition, school drop outs and early marriage. The Philippines performed poorest on child stunting or chronic malnutrition, which affects more than 30 percent of children across the country.
The report’s index of 172 countries ranked the Philippines as the 96th best country for children to experience childhood, putting it narrowly ahead of Indonesia (101) and Cambodia (117) but behind China (41), Thailand (84) and Vietnam (92). Norway and Slovenia topped the index, followed by Finland, with Niger ranking last.
“The ranking is not so surprising when you look at the levels of stunting and undernutrition across the country. Undernutrition accounts for over half of the 95 daily child deaths among children under five in the Philippines,” said Save the Children Philippines Country Director Ned Olney.
Olney added: “Philippines has made tremendous economic and development progress in recent years but poverty rates have remained the same over the last few years. Economic growth has been poorly distributed.”
“Disappointing statistics from the Philippines underscore the importance the first 1000 days of a child’s life, when they are most susceptible to stunting and most in need of good nutrition. This is an area that must be dramatically improved if the Philippines is to move up the rankings, and most importantly, ensure every child across the country can benefit from a safe and happy childhood.”
Children suffering from undernutrition or stunting have increased risks of contracting diseases like acute diarrheal syndrome, acute respiratory infection and anemia, while children, especially those with severe undernutrition, are more likely to die from illnesses caused by complications. Children who are stunted in the first two years are also more likely to repeat grades, drop out of school and delay school entry.
Save the Children’s “Cost of Hunger: Philippines” study in 2016 put the cost of undernutrition or stunting to the economy of the Philippines at over 320 billion pesos a year –which is equivalent to almost 3% of the country’s GDP.
Save the Children is calling for greater investment in activities that prevent undernutrition and stunting. This includes more targeted nutrition support for the poorest and most marginalised groups and greater investment in nutrition interventions for pregnant and lactating mothers and babies in their first 1000 days.
“Our report clearly shows that poor nutrition levels which cause stunting is holding children back in the Philippines, and preventing them from having the childhoods they deserve and are entitled to,” Olney, said.
Globally, the report found that at least 700 million children – and possibly hundreds of millions more – have had the promise of a full childhood brought to an early end.
The report also found that:
- Every day, more than 16,000 children die before reaching their fifth birthday
- About one quarter of all children under five (156 million) have their growth stunted as a result of malnutrition
- One in six school-aged children worldwide is currently out of school
- Conflict has forced nearly one child in 80 from their homes
- 168 million children in the world are involved in child labour – 85 million in hazardous work – which is more than all children living in Europe (138 million)
- One girl under 15 is forced to marry every seven seconds
- Every two seconds, a girl gives birth
Save the Children’s nutrition work includes training frontline health and nutrition workers on life-saving care for newborns and their mothers, promoting exclusive breastfeeding, managing community and school-based health and nutrition programs and promoting reproductive health to adolescents.
