PH hunger prevalence worse than global average

MANILA, Philippines – Politicians running for office in the mid-term elections should stop feeding the Filipino voters with propaganda trash. Rather, they should focus and debate on how they can improve the incidence of undernourishment or chronic hunger in the country, the National Food Coalition (NFC) said Wednesday.

Aurea Miclat-Teves, NFC convener, said there are 870 million people in the world who do not have enough to eat. Citing an infographic of Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, she stressed that one in every eight individuals goes to sleep hungry every day.

“It is worse in the Philippines. One in every six Filipinos is experiencing daily the world’s number one health risk – hunger,” said Teves.

She added that FAO’s estimate is still conservative, considering the third quarter findings of the Social Weather Station last year which showed that 21% or an estimated 4.3 million households or one in every five persons experienced “having nothing to eat in the last three months.”

“At the rate this election campaign is going, we have yet to hear concrete proposals from the candidates in addressing the hunger problem,” lamented Teves.

Citing data from FAO, the NFC said that among the countries in Southeast Asia, the Philippines and Cambodia are tied at 2nd rank with 17% prevalence of undernourishment. In terms of actual number, the Philippines has 16 million undernourished persons, while Cambodia has 2 million. Lao People’s Democratic Republic has the highest prevalence of undernourishment in the region with 28% or 2 million individuals. Indonesia, while having only 9% prevalence of undernourishment, has the highest number of undernourished citizens in the region, with 21.0 million.

FAO defines undernourishment or chronic hunger as the status of persons, whose food intake regularly provides less than their minimum energy requirements. The average minimum energy requirement per person is about 1800 kcal per day. The exact requirement is determined by a person’s age, body size, activity level and physiological conditions such as illness, infection, pregnancy and lactation.

National Food Policy

“One of the major reasons why the country has high incidence of hunger is the lack of a comprehensive national food policy in the country,” Teves pointed out.

She added that there is an urgent need to craft such policy which needs the full and active participation of all actors concerned, including those most vulnerable to hunger. Said food policy should be along the recommendations by the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) in General Comment No. 12 (1999) and the FAO’s Voluntary Guidelines on the Right to Food (2004).

“Should they get elected, incoming members of the 16th Congress must prioritize the crafting of a national food policy that will rectify incoherent, non-complementary and conflicting legal mechanisms,” said Teves.

“If they are really sincere, as how they project themselves during the campaign, then they must enact a framework law on the right to adequate food of every Filipino,” Teves stressed.

Contact persons:
Aurea Miclat-Teves, NFC Convenor, +63.918.991.1910
PRESS RELEASE
24 April 2013

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