Three towns record most number of underweight children in 2013

CEBU, Philippines - The towns of Consolacion, Tuburan and Liloan had the most number of underweight preschoolers in the province in 2013 based on the Operation Timbang of the National Nutrition Council (NNC).

The results were the latest for the survey published by the NNC in its official website.

Based on the results, Consolacion had 799 children underweight out of the 11,578 children whose weight was recorded; while 317 from this population were “severely underweight.” All 44 Cebu towns were subject to the Operation Timbang survey, a project of NNC.

Tuburan in midwest Cebu follows on the list with 778 of its preschoolers or 10.41 percent of the 7,472 who underwent the Operation Timbang recorded underweight. About 148 children from the preschooler population in the town were considered in the survey results as severely underweight.

Liloan in the north reportedly had 699 underweight children of the 11,493 recorded while 176 of this number were severely underweight.

The preschool kids whose weights were recorded were between the age of zero and 59 months.

Meanwhile, in Daanbantayan, 522 of the 8,896 children with weights recorded were underweight while 207 were severely underweight.

Asturias and Pinamungajan also had underweight children with 512 and 510, respectively. There were 5,876 and 8,046 kids, respectively, from these two towns surveyed.

But while there were towns in Cebu, as of the 2013 survey, which have yet to lessen if not eradicate malnutrition among kids, there were already those that have fewer underweight children.

Tudela, for one, only had 29 underweight preschoolers out of the 934 kids who were weighted for this survey. 

San Francisco and Pilar towns, both in Camotes Island, also had few underweight kids with 65 and 77, respectively.

Boljoon also only had 74 preschoolers underweight of the 1,334 kids, while Borbon had 87 out of the 4,780 preschoolers weighted.  (FREEMAN)