“There is a need to know about this because we want to ensure that children achieve full development and potential and we want to avoid the problems of malnutrition and stunting,” Ekong added.

Stunting refers to the slow height development of a child. Ekong also highlighted that the pandemic has negative implication on nutrition food security and health system. With this, there are also interruptions on nutrition programs because of limited face to face and on ground activities for the beneficiaries.

However, government efforts still continue in providing food packs which contains nutritional contents for the mothers and children in order to address the immediate causes of malnutrition. (RVC/MLE/PIA9-Zamboanga City)