The Overlooked Hunger and Malnutrition Due to Poverty Among Filipino Families
The Overlooked Hunger and Malnutrition Due To Poverty Among Flipino Families
1 Poverty has been prevalent in the Philippines, it can be seen in its dirtiest, muddy places up to its very own urbanized and economy-centered cities. With the problems of unemployment, low salary rates, and high inflation rates, Filipinos only can do much when it comes to making ends meet.
2 As the needs of Filipino employers continue to cost more in the modern market, the salary and job opportunities in the country remain in their poor state, making children malnourished and the nation hungry—figuratively and literally.
Empty Wallet and Stomach
3 According to the latest report of the the Family and Income Expenditure Survey (FIES), the average annual family income in the country is P307,190 while the annual expenditure falls at P228,800. With this, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) noted that these figures are lower than the results from 2018.
4 Meanwhile, these numbers only speak for the middle-class families in the country, who only comprise 45% of Filipino families. With lesser income and higher costs of living expenses, particularly food, the nation can only sacrifice the quality of the food they serve at their tables, risking the population to be undernourished.
Affordability Still Unobtainable
5 The Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) stated that many Filipinos are not capable of affording to purchase and consume nutritious foods due to their expensive prices resulting from inadequate agricultural infrastructures in the country.
6 “On food affordability, it was found that many Filipino households are unable to consume nutrient-adequate diets due to its unaffordability,” PIDS said.
7 They also added that the high costs of transportation, caused by inadequate transport and logistics infrastructures, contribute to the rising prices of goods in the market, affecting both rural and urban consumers in society.
What Filipino Families Do
8 In a nutshell, a mother can budget their expenses only to the extent of making foods available to her children, not paying too much attention on its nutritional value. When well-nourished foods are costly in the market, one can only wish to fill their family’s stomach with what they can afford to buy.
9 Then again, it can only be resolved when the country obtains the sustainability of resources such as food, ensures cost- and labor-effective transportation, and offers better job opportunities for its people. Only then can Filipino families afford to be healthy, and only then can the children afford not to be hungry.
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