Understanding the Hidden hunger

CEBU, Philippines - She merely stared with serene eyes when asked to describe the job of her dad. It takes a lot of compassion to understand hidden hurt and hidden hunger of eight year old girls. Mostly it is because we don’t know their pain, nor do they want to talk about their pain. Donnie had seen how her father was framed up for illegal drugs and was taken away. She had not seen her father ever since. Hidden hurt has caused Donnie to have poor eating habits. While she looks plump just like any eight year old girl, she suffers from micronutrient malnutrition.

Unless they open up to it, hidden hurt in children may not be known. Hidden hurt comes with a hunger for love. While hidden hurt stays sealed even deeply rooted into adult life, hidden hunger is a phenomenon that is well known and is no longer hidden. It is because there is no physical need to eat nor is there a physical desire for food that this hunger is called “hidden.”

Hidden hunger is described as micronutrient malnutrition where there is lack of vitamin A, iron and iodine micronutrients in the body. So hidden that unless a child is subjected to biochemical testing, only then is the deficiency known. In the meantime, no one will quite know the deficiency until the symptoms become obvious.

Scientific and medical researches have found that Vitamin A deficiency leads to preventable blindness, susceptibility to childhood illnesses and respiratory infections and increased child deaths. While iron deficiency anemia causes impaired mental and physical development, vulnerability to infections, low endurance, sluggishness and low capacity for work. Iodine deficiency disorder leads to preventable mental retardation, deaf-mutism, low IQ, physical retardation and goiter.

Based on a 2008 National Nutrition Biochemical Survey, the prevalence of vitamin A deficiency observed among Filipino infants was at 15.2 percent, while school children or those with ages six years to 12 years showed a prevalence of 11.1 percent. These indicate that vitamin A deficiency among infants and school children is a public health problem of moderate significance. The prevalence among adolescents was at 4.6 percent, 3.4 percent among adults and 3.6 percent among the elderly.

In the same biochemical survey, the magnitude of anemia was moderate for 6 months to 5 years and 6 to 12 years old children. That there continues to be prevalence of vitamin A deficiency and magnitude of anemia could be indicators of hidden oversights and anemic implementation of the food fortification program of the country. (FREEMAN)