Cebu, Mandaue among Central Visayas cities with most underweight kids

CEBU, Philippines – Mandaue City has been ranked third among 16 cities in Central Visayas in terms of having the most number of underweight children.

The National Nutrition Council-7 data showed that of the 46,807 pre-schoolers in Mandaue City, 256 were overweight, 905 underweight while 285 severely underweight. This means that total of 1,190 children, ages zero to 71 months, were either underweight or severely underweight in Mandaue City.

There were 60,675 estimated pre-school children in the city.The weighing period was between January and March of 2014.

Based on the same data, Cebu City had the highest recorded underweight children at 4,584 (3,705 were underweight, 879 were severely underweight). Of the 154,889 estimated pre-schoolers in Cebu City, 126,081 were weighted or 81.40 percent of the pre-schooler population.

Guihulgnan City in Negros Oriental came second with 1,607 underweight and severely underweight pre-schoolers from the 14,054 children weighted.

City of Naga was fourth with 1,076 underweight and severely underweight pre-schoolers. There were 15,795 children who were weighted from this city.

Danao City came next with its 1,053 underweight and severely underweight children from the 18,057 weighted pre-schoolers. (FREEMAN)