Camarines Sur Representative Luis Raymund “LRay” Villafuerte on Saturday, August 7, called for the full implementation of a 2018 law that expands state health and nutrition programs for women and children to help address hunger and malnutrition among “food poor” Filipinos.He referred to the Republic Act No. 11148, or “Kalusugan at Nutrisyon ng Mag-Nanay Act,” which aims to ensure that a child gets the right nutrition in the first 1,000 days of development.
A recent Social Weather Stations survey, conducted from April 28 to May 2, which found 32 percent of respondents saying they are “food poor.” According to Food and Agriculture Organization , moderate food insecurity is a state of uncertainty about the ability to get food; a risk of skipping meals or seeing food run out; being forced to compromise on the nutritional quality and/or quantity of food consumed. Severe food insecurity, meanwhile, means running out of food; experienced hunger; at the most extreme, having to go without food for a day or more, the FAO said.