Additional Activity
Directions: Pick out statements of assertions in the article below and identify each, whether it
is a fact, opinion, convention, or preference. You write your answers on your answer sheet.
Nutrition and the Philippines: 'Nation at risk'
Fritzie Rodriguez
MANILA, Philippines — "Under nutrition is the single greatest threat to a child's life."
Dr Martin Parreño, National Program Officer of the World Food Programme-Philippines,
called on Filipinos to pay more attention to child malnutrition at all times — with or without
disasters. Latest statistics from the National Nutrition Council (NNC) showed that 67% of
Filipino families are not eating enough even when there are no calamities.
In the Philippines, malnutrition is seen across all age groups — from infancy to adulthood, the
2013 National Nutrition Survey revealed. "At the center of malnutrition's underlying causes is
inadequate childcare and feeding practices," Parreño added. "And we don't have a structure
curriculum addressing this," he said during the 2014 Dr Juan Salcedo
Memorial Lecture organized by the Nutrition Foundation of the Philippines (NFP) on
Thursday, October 9.Children who grew up in homes where parents did not care or invest in
proper food and hygiene will most likely grow up to become the same kind of parents, hence
perpetuating the cycle. The Department of Education has been working on integrating health
and nutrition lessons in school curricula. More recent strategies also try to involve parents in
classes and school-based supplementary feeding programs. Such efforts, however, will remain
fruitless unless more parents realize the value of nutrition and their roles as primary caregivers.
STATEMENT OF ASSERTION TYPE OF ASSESTION