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  • Title: Life below the threshold.
    Author: Castro C.
    Journal: MARHIA; 1991; 4(1):8. PubMed ID: 12285009.
    Abstract:
    This article explains that malnutrition, poor health, and limited educational opportunities plague Philippine children -- especially female children -- from families living below the poverty threshold. Nearly 70% of households in the Philippines do not meet the required daily level of nutritional intake. Because it is often -- and incorrectly -- assumed that women's nutritional requirements are lower than men's, women suffer higher rates of malnutrition and poor health. A 1987 study revealed that 11.7% of all elementary students were underweight and 13.9% had stunted growths. Among elementary-school girls, 17% were malnourished and 40% suffered from anemia (among lactating mothers, more than 1/2 are anemic). A 1988 Program for Decentralized Educational Development study showed that grade VI students learn only about 1/2 of what they are supposed to learn. 30% of the children enrolled in grade school drop out before they reach their senior year. The Department of Education, Culture and Sports estimates that some 2.56 million students dropped out of school in l989. That same year, some 3.7 million children were counted as part of the labor force. In Manila alone, some 60,000 children work the streets, whether doing odd jobs or begging, or turning to crime or prostitution. the article tells the story of a 12 year-old girl named Ging, a 4th grader at a public school and the oldest child in a poor family of 6 children. The undernourished Ging dreams of a good future for her family and sees education as a way out of poverty; unfortunately, her time after school is spend working in the streets or looking after her family. She considers herself luckier than many of the other children working in the streets, since she at least has a family.
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