Dalawang Mukha ng Malnutrisyon

I was surprised when I saw a commercial yesterday about a documentary about double burden of malnutrition here in the Philippines. So I just finished watching the documentary, and it was funny how I felt happy and frustrated at the same time. Well, I'm a bit selfish, and quite a perfectionist, and I wanted to make a big impact on my thesis. To discuss something that isn't being tackled as much here in our country. We all know about the growing problem of obesity in adults but obesity amongst children is still new. But now that there's a documentary about my topic, I'm worried that my future jury might think that I just got the idea from the docu. So that's the selfish part talking, hehe, but I'm still very happy that finally someone is talking about the problem. As I've mentioned in my earlier posts, childhood obesity is a growing epidemic here in the Philippines.

The documentary Ang Dalawang Mukha ng Malnutrisyon, shown last July 27,2008 by ABS-CBN, delivered the message loud and clear. It tackled on the problem of double burden, on how frail and thin children are not only the victims of malnutrition. Chubby, fat, plump or whatever we prefer to  overweight children are also suffering from malnutrition. The problem with malnutrition among overweight or obese children is that, normally parents do not know if their child are suffering from malnutrition. Some may even say that their child is cute and cuddly, not realizing that their might already be consequences from their children's lifestyle. Obviously, proper education among parents regarding this matter is lacking. With majority of malnourished cases being in frail thin children, the Department of Health (DOH) has focused more on this matter. The problem is, although childhood obesity is only 10% of the population, it is again, as I've mentioned before, a growing epidemic. 

Problems regarding poor diet and lack of physical activities were mentioned in the documentary. They also mentioned cases wherein the child could no longer play with other children because he was always made fun of. Lack of parent's time with their children were also seen as a problem.

I found videos of the documentary in 4 parts, thank you Pinoy Channel TV, great job! :D

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4