Rise in underweight, obesity cases of kids in Naga noted

By Paulo DS. Papa

THE City’s Population and Nutrition Office (CPNO) said the limited movement of people in 2020 has resulted in spike of child underweight and obesity cases in two barangays of Naga City.

Former councilor and CPNO chief Ray-An Cydrick Rentoy in an interview told Bicol Mail that Barangay Panicuason has the highest case of underweight children despite the fact that households in the village have enough space for planting vegetables.

We observed that backyards are planted with ornamental plants for business purposes instead of vegetables for consumption. The CPNO has coordinated with the City Agriculturist Office (CAO) to promote and support backyard farming in the upper barangay, he said.

Unlike in Panicuason, a high case of obesity in Barangay Triangulo is observed among the children including adults. Rentoy said, excess eating while staying home was the main factor of child obesity in the barangay.

The CPNO, nutrition committee, nutrition scholars, and supplemental feeding volunteers in every barangay resumed hot lunch feeding and activities related to the city government’s nourishment programs since quarantine status in the city was downgraded. Malnourished children such as the underweight and the obese were the target beneficiaries.

As of this writing, Panicuason is the first in the list of barangays with underweight cases based from the data titled Operation Timbang Plus for the year 2021 provided by the National Nutrition Council (NNC).

The upper barangay has the highest rate of underweight cases with a number of 29 children with a percentage of 9.35; Dinaga, 2 equivalent to 5.41%; San Isidro, 15 (4.25%); Concepcion Grande, 45 (3.81%); Sabang, 22 (2.67%); Abella, 15 (2.58%); Lerma, 7 (2.55%); Calauag, 30 (2.38%); Cararayan, 47 (2.35%); Mabolo, 18 (2.00%); Bagumbayan Norte, 6 (1.85%); Balatas, 22 (1.82%); Liboton, 6 (1.78%); Tabuco, 7 (1.48%); Dayangdang, 5 (1.48%); Concepcion Pequeña, 34 (1.40%); Pacol, 20 (1.38%); Triangulo, 12 (1.35%); Igualdad Interior, 4 (0.96%); Peñafrancia, 4, (0.58%); San Felipe, 13 (0.56%); Bagumbayan Sur, 3 (0.37%), and Sta Cruz, 3 (0.36).

No underweight children was recorded in Carolina, Del Rosario, San Francisco, and Tinago.

Triangulo, occupied the first place in the list of barangays with obesity cases as shown in the data from NNC. The crowded barangay has 87 obese children with a percentage of 9.78%; Del Rosario, 49 (4.23%); Concepcion Grande, 33 (2.79%); Panicuason, 8 (2.58%); Dayangdang, 8 (2.37%); Calauag, 21 (1.67%); Liboton, 4 (1.18%); Abella, 6 (1.03%); Tabuco, 2 (0.42%); Lerma, 1 (0.36%); Sabang, 2 (0.24%); Mabolo, 2 (0.22%); Peñafrancia, 1 (0.14%); Cararayan, 1 (0.05%); Cararayan, 1 (0.05%), and Concepcion Pequeña, 1 (0.04%).

No obese children recorded in barangays of Bagumbayan Norte, Bagumbayan Sur, Balatas, Carolina, Dinaga, Igualdad Interior, Pacol, San Francisco, San Isidro, Sta Cruz, Tinago, and San Felipe.

Rentoy disclosed that the data for this year and last year are almost same due to restricted movements of people and activities.