Browsing by Author "Urriquia, Bianca Therese B."

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    Maternal factors and their associations with childhood stunting in the Philippines as evidence from the ENNS data
    (2026-06-11) Macam, Joshua Larry; Urriquia, Bianca Therese B.; Balaoing-Pelkmans, Edylinda Anette O.
    "Affecting about one in every three children, stunting is one of the most prevalent forms of malnutrition in the Philippines (Ulep et al., 2021; Sahoo et al., 2024). In the Philippines, an estimated 18-percentage-point gap between Ilocos and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) prevails, suggesting the persistence of regional disparity in stunting (Ulep et al., 2021). Maternal determinants have been identified as significant contributors to explaining stunting prevalence in the country (Ulep et al., 2021). This study aims to contribute by examining the regional stunting gap and the extent to which differences in maternal biological, health care, and socioeconomic characteristics explain the child stunting gap across regions. Using the 2018 and 2019 Expanded National Nutrition Survey, the study examined 18,789 under-five children and maternal determinants through three sequential logistic regression models and three age-specific Fairlie decompositions. The findings revealed a 9.46-percentage-point stunting gap between the lowest- and highest-stunting regions among children aged 0–23 months and a 12.88-percentage-point gap among children aged 24–59 months, with an overall stunting gap of 11.16 percentage points. The analysis identified maternal wealth and education as consistent contributors to the explained stunting gap. It also emphasizes that the associations and significance of maternal factors in regional stunting disparities vary between children aged 0–23 months and those aged 24–59 months. The findings support considering age-specific structural framework in policy interventions and for prioritizing high-stunting regions, which may help explain differences in the stunting gap across regions. "