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The Problem
Good nutrition is the cornerstone for survival, health and development for current
healthy adult and in turn give their children a better start in life.
Nutritional status or nutriture is the condition of the body resulting from the
utilization of essential nutrients. One may be classified as having good, fair or poor
nutriture depending upon the primary and secondary factors. Good or Optimum Nutriture
means that the body has adequate supply of nutrients that efficiently utilized such that
growth and good health are maintained at the highest possible level. Fair Nutriture means
the body has enough supply of essential nutrients needed for growth and development.
Poor Nutriture means that the body has inadequate supply of essential nutrients.
Individual nutritional status depends on the interaction between food that is eaten,
the overall state of health and the physical environment. Malnutrition is a major
According to P.A. Sanchez and M.S. Swaminathan, there are 854 million people in
the world (about 14% of the world population) who are chronically or acutely
more than 2 billion people worldwide. Most are in Asia, with sub-Saharan Africa the
only region where hunger prevalence is over 30%, and the absolute numbers of
malnourished people are increasing.. More than 90% are chronically malnourished,
with a constant or recurrent lack of access to sufficient quality and quantity of food,
good health care, and adequate maternal caring practices. Acute hunger (the wasting
and starvation resulting from famines, war, and natural disaster) represents 10% of
the hungry yet receives most of the media coverage and attention. 3
The Survey Team of Food and National Research Institute-DOST, who conducted
the data collection from July to December 2003, covered 17 regions of the Philippines, at
most 5,520 households and 25,897 persons. There were 808 survey areas that were drawn
survey area comprised of one or more barangays. The nutritional situation of primary
school-age children (6-10 years old) has improved between 2001 and 2003. This was
revealed by the results of the 6th National Nutrition Survey conducted by the Food and
July to December, 2003. The anthropometric results for 0-10 years old, among 0-5 years
630,000 is short, and 1.4 % or 160,000 is overweight. The result shows that among 6-10
the research because when the researchers requested some information about the
municipality of Bauang presented that the total estimated population of children under 6
years old for the year 2004 is 737 and only 600 children have taken weight. Among the
600 children 18 children have weight that is below normal and 101 children have
moderate weight. In the statistics, Barangay Paringao has the highest cases of
malnourished children.
the school.
Theoretical Framework
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Freud and Skinner. He felt that people are basically trustworthy, self-protecting, and
self-governing. Humans tend toward growth and love. According to Maslow, there
are general types of needs (physiological, safety, love, self-esteem and self-
actualization) that must be satisfied before a person can act unselfishly. He called
Needs are the very basic needs such as air, water, food, sleep, sex, etc. When these
are not satisfied we may feel sickness, irritation, pain, discomfort, etc. These
Once they are alleviated, we may think about other things. A person who is starving
or deprived of fluid for an extended time will center all of his/ her activities on
meeting that need. After physiological needs are meet the need to feel safe in one’s
environment emerge. This need for safety has both physical and psychological
aspects; the person needs to be safe and to feel safe, both in physical environment
and relationship. All basic needs generally must be met. Failure to meet needs in one
Rosenstock said that the health belief model is based upon the idea that it is the
world as it is perceived that will determine an individual's actions and not the actual
philosophy.) According to this model, individuals will act to avoid a health problem, but
they first need to believe they are personally susceptible to the problem. Second, they
need to perceive the severity of the situation before they will take a particular action.
Third, the probability that an individual will act to improve his or her health is
behaviors. A beneficial alternative is one that is likely to reduce the severity of a health
stimulus (e.g., perception of bodily states) or an external stimulus (e.g., mass media
regaining health, finding meaning in illness, or maintaining maximal degree of health. She
illness and “experience of suffering”. She believed that a person is a unique, irreplaceable
Conceptual Framework
In line with the priority of the government to provide optimum health to children,
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The Food and Nutrition Research Institute-DOST, being lead agency in food and
(Executive Order) 128 section 22, the FNRI is mandated to undertake research that
malnutrition problem, its causes and effects and identify alternative solutions to
FNRI is designed to conduct the national nutritional survey every five (5) years, at
the national and regional levels, and to disseminate the results one (1) year after the
reference year. Among 6-10 years old children, 26.7% are underweight, 36.5% are
short, and 1.3% is overweight. Among these age groups, under nutrition has
decreased while overweight increased between 1988 to 2003. There has been a
general improvement between 1988 and 2003 in the country’s over all nutrition,
underweight and stunting among 0-5 and 6-10 years old children. There is however
to the promotion and maintenance of good health and economic productivity. The
new outlook in the development therefore, puts the spotlight on nutrition in the
strategy of development. Because of this, man today can maintain higher level of
health, vigor and efficiency throughout many more years than would have been
possible before. It has been said that through better nutrition not only have years
been added to man’s lives but life to his years. However with the rapid rise of our
standard of living, the incidence of malnutrition persisted and has increased and
affected in all walks of life. Malnutrition can be considered as social and economic
ill. Lifetime mental and physical damages follows as a result when it hits the young,
particularly infants and pre-schoolers retarded growth, small size and bone
deformities happen, the brain, needing nourishment for its growth and development
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fails to grow to its fullest thus resulting in poor mental performance later in life.
The Casual and Outcome model shows that the nutritional status of Filipino child
is a result of different underlying causes at the household, community and country levels
which interact and ultimately affect him as an individual. It has been recognized that
waste is caused by inadequate nutrition. It is like a cycle that worsens without immediate
and proper interventions, thus eventually leading to greater health and nutrition problem
PD 603 otherwise known as the child and youth welfare code states; Article 1-
General Principle. “The child is one of the most important assets of the nation. Every
effort should be enacted to promote his welfare and enhance his happy opportunity
for the useful and happy life.” Every child should be provided all their needs to have
a safe and healthy life. They are the hope of our nation so their welfare must be
promoted. In order that they must do their future roles and responsibilities, they must
be healthy and or physically fit. Article 2-Promotion of Health. “It should be the
responsibility of the health welfare and education entities to assist the parents in
looking after the health of the child.” Promoting health of children is not only a sole
responsibility of parents but it is also the responsibility of the government and also
the school supervising the condition of the children and provide health services to
ensure that they have a healthy life. Article 3-The Rights of the Child. “Every child
has the right to balanced diet, adequate clothing, sufficient shelter, proper medical
attention, and the basic physical requirements of a healthy and vigorous life.” Parents
should pay attention to the needs of their children. They should provide adequate
food to meet the needs of their children; adequate clothing, and sufficient shelter to
promote safety. Children must also have regular check ups to watch for their health
condition. They can do this without paying much for they can have the check up in
their Barangay Health Center so they can maintain the health condition of their
children.12
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Figure 1, presents the research paradigm of the study. The independent variable in
the study is the profile of the respondents age, gender, and the family’s’ average daily
income, and number of households. The dependent variable in the researchers’ study is
the nutritional status of the children. The arrow represents the relationship between the
Children’s Profile
a.4. Number of
Children
Figure 1.
Research Paradigm
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2005.
a.1. age
a.2. gender
3. Is there a significant relationship between the profile of the children and their
nutritional status?
Hypotheses
The hypotheses are cited below in order to answer the identified problem in the
study.
The profile of children with regards to age ranges from six to twelve (6-12) years old, as
to their gender, most are female, average monthly income is below Php 13,000 in a
The nutritional status of children in terms of height and weight corresponding to their
age; most are below normal, as to their height and weight corresponding with their
There is no significant relationship between children’s profile and their nutritional status.
12
Paringao Elementary School, Paringao, Bauang, La Union from July to August 2005.
The total of 273 pupils from grade one to grade six for the school year 2005-2006
This study covered such aspects as: age, gender, average monthly family income,
Government, as a basis to review the results of the study and will provide them a
quality grade
School Nutritionist, this study will help them to introduce, orient and guide the
Nurses, this will help them inform and educate the parents concerning preventive
13
measures to reduce health threats of malnutrition. The findings of the study therefore will
Personnel of the Canteen, this study will urge them to prepare low cost and
nutritious foods for the pupils with healthy and proper preparation.
Parents, as a guiding tool for them to realize there role in food selection and
preparation for the growth and development of their children as partners in nation
building.
To the researchers of this study, this will serve as an enhancer to their knowledge
to the importance of health education. This will motivate and challenge them to
Definition of Terms
The terms used in this study are defined to help the reader fully understand.
Elementary School. A school giving a course of education in the first six or eight
grades.13
Height for Age. The linear measurement of child at a given age from head to toe
takes to the nearest 0.5cm and compared to the table for standard height for Filipino
children. 15
utilization of nutrients. 16
especially having more body weight than is considered normal or healthy for one's age or
build. 17
Primary Factors. It refers to faulty diet like nutrient intake is lacking in quality
Secondary Factors. It refers to multiple and include all condition within the
body that reduce the ultimate supply of nutrients to the cells after the food goes beyond
the mouth.19
Underweight. This refers when her/his weight relative to her/his age is lower
Weight for Age. The heaviness of the children at a given age measured by using
the weighing scale taken to the nearest 0.1 kg and compared to the table for standard
NOTES
1
Ma. Patrocinio E. de Guzman, Virginia S. Claudio, Moninia S. Oliveros,
1998, pp.564-565
11
Ibid, ,”Basic Nutrition for Filipinos”, pp. 330-332
. .12http://philsfamilylaw.blogspot.com/2005/04/pd-no-603-child-and-youth-
welfare-code.html
15
DECS, Memo No. 28,1997
16
www.webstersonlinedictionary.org/definition/english/Nu/Nutritional
%20Status.html, 2005
17
J.B. Forman,MACollins Double Book Dictionary and Encyclopedia, Wm.