Good Nutrition, when provided at the early stages of life—particularly the first 1000 days—would cause immense benefits on an individual’s quality of life. When I first think of “nutrition,” I immediately associate it with better health and immunity against diseases. A healthy body would result in ideal growth and development while a strong immunity would aid survival. However, it did not cross my mind that other aspects of life, such as school performance, productivity, earnings, and even GDP rates would be affected by nutrition in the first 1000 days of life—an essential that I thought to be only relevant with health and disease concerns. Thus, this quote emphasizes the word “foundation,” as good nutrition serves as the root to establish a child’s means in achieving the “highest attainable standard” of life and health.
Survival. According to DOH (2010), the top leading cause of infant mortality in the Philippines is bacterial sepsis. If mothers practice providing good nutrition to their infants via exclusive and sufficient breastfeeding within an hour after delivery until 6 months, infants may have increased immunity to fight off infections. Another main cause of infant mortality is disorders related to short gestation and low birth weight. With good nutrition during a mother’s pregnancy, such as adequate intake of elemental iron and folic acid supplements, preterm and underweight births may be prevented. True enough, good nutrition is a foundation of a child’s survival.
Health. One of the aims of the First 1000 Days law (RA 11148) is to decrease malnutrition cases in the country, which includes improvement in the prevalence of underweight, stunted, wasted, and overweight-for-height children, especially those under 5 years old. Other than the aforementioned measures in improving survival—which includes iron-folic acid supplementation during pregnancy and exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months—the recommended action of this law includes complementary and active feeding from six months old to 2 years old and beyond. Feeding must follow the appropriate frequency for age and whether the infant is being breastfed or not, as well as diversity which means 4 or more out of the 7 food groups must be provided. Undernutrition conditions would decrease if these actions were to practiced effectively. Surely, good nutrition is a foundation of a child’s health.
Development. A child’s development is also affected by whether or not he or she acquires good nutrition. If poor nutrition was obtained during the first 1000 days of life, development is adversely affected. For example, a child would tend to have lower IQ; poor school performance due to impaired brain development, and lack of school attendance because of illness; impaired learning; and blindness (UNICEF, 2019). These issues in a child’s development would be carried throughout adulthood, resulting in reduced productivity economically. From a broader perspective, socio-economic development would also be compromised. Therefore, with good nutrition comes higher IQ, better school performance and learning, increased productivity and earnings, and improved economic development. Indeed, good nutrition is the foundation of a child’s development.
References:
Department of Health [DOH]. (2010). Infant Mortality Ten (10) Leading Causes. https://doh.gov.ph/Statistics/Infant-Mortality-Ten-Leading-Causes
Iellamo, E.A. (2022). First 1000 Days [PowerPoint Slides]. University of the Philippines Manila Virtual Learning Environment: https://vle.upm.edu.ph/login/index.php
United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund [UNICEF]. (2019). The Cost of Malnutrition. https://features.unicef.org/state-of-the-worlds-children-2019-nutrition/