Government think tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) recently issued a bleak scenario, saying that one in three Filipino children are stunted due to severe underinvestment and insufficient access to high quality childcare services In its study “Behind the Slow Start: An Assessment of Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) in the Philippines” authored by Valerie Gilbert T. Ulep, Lyle Daryll D. Casas, Aaron Carols G.
Manuel, John Paulo D. Mendoza, Joy Bagas, and Kim Leonard G. Dela Luna observed that inadequate and untimely access to high-quality early childcare and prenatal interventions were factors that pushed the alarming levels of stunting among Filipino children.
Furthermore, the study also found that the severe underinvestment for early childhood care and development, weak institutions, and fragmented governance also become stumbling blocks in the implementation of early childhood care development interventions. The study was published in support of the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2). “EDCOM 2 welcomes the findings of the study conducted by PIDS.
Our recommendations on the programmatic and legislative reforms to our education systems are based on empirical evidence from these kinds of studies,” said EDCOM 2 Executive Director Karol Mark Yee. The authors pointed out that participation in early education among Filipino children aged three to four years old is low, despite the implementation of legislations such as the Kindergarten Education Act, the Enhanced Basic Education Act, and the Early Years Act. “There was a drastic decline in the percentage of children aged three to four years old attending school during the pandemic.
While it recovered to 20 percent in 2022, it still fell below pre-pandemic levels,” according to the authors. The study also explained how child health outcomes are impacted by maternal and child undernutrition and exposure to infections, which directly contributes to chronic malnutrition and increased risk of mortality. According to the authors, roughly 14 percent of Filipino women of reproductive age are undernourished and evidence proves that malnourished mothers have a high possibility of giving birth to infants with low birth weights, resulting in both short term and long-term consequences.
Furthermore, the authors said access to most basic health services including prenatal care, child immunization, postnatal care and other maternal and child services are quite far from the target of universal coverage. Results of the study also show that only one out of four Filipino children meet the recommended energy intake (REI). This shows the pertinacious challenges in addressing nutritional needs of children, especially among those aged six to months from low income households.
By using the REI, the preliminary analysis shows no difference in terms of meeting total energy and protein intake between children who received supplementary feeding programs compared to those who did not, even after adjusting for selection bias. This finding recommends further investigation and potential adjustments to the program to ensure effectiveness in addressing the nutritional needs of children. According to the 2022 Annual Poverty Indicator, only 23 percent of children benefited from school-based feeding programs.
“Despite government efforts, access remains limited. We observe a higher percentage of children aged four years old receiving government feeding programs, which reflects the implementation of school feeding initiatives in daycare centers and kindergarten schools,” said Ulep, PIDS Senior Research Fellow. To improve participation rates in early education and access to essential health and nutrition services, the study recommends the roll out of innovative financing mechanisms such as piloting public-private partnership models and investing in science-based behavioral change communication campaigns and strategies to effectively reach and engage target audience.
Another general observation of the study is the hard underinvestment in ECCD, further aggravated by the prioritization of services with limited effects on nutrition and education outcomes. “Overall, the current supply of capital investments for ECCD in the country falls short of meeting the goal of universal access for children aged three to 34 to ECCD services. The country’s current facilities are insufficient by around 33,000 to meet the 96,000 daycare/child development centers required to meet 100 percent of the demand,” the report reads.
Based on the authors’ findings, it was learned that the government allocates only P3,870 per child for health, significantly below the average government spending per person on health in lower- middle-income countries, which is $150. “We acknowledge the benefits of school feeding programs, but we need to start investing more deeply, and intervening, in the earlier years,” said Yee. Moreover, the authors recommend increasing public spending on ECCD and investing resources in services that would dramatically affect health, nutrition, and early education outcomes by strategically allocating resources to influence ECCD spending of local governments, investing in primary health care through the implementation of the Universal Health Care Act, reevaluating the implementation framework of government led school feeding programs, and increasing the investment in health care workers to enhance their capacity to monitor mothers and children.
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