Health advocates including nutritionists Tuesday challenged the 2010 presidential candidates to formulate strong health policies that will target the widespread problem of malnutrition in the country, especially among young children living mostly in Bicol, Visayas and Mindanao.

Experts who briefed the media in yesterday’s launch of the 7th National Nutrition Survey conducted jointly by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) and the Department of Science and technology (DoST) lamented the apparent lack of interest among the 2010 hopefuls on health issues.

“Why don’t I hear anything about health in all the recent election forums? The malnutrition index is getting higher; I want to ask them, Do you have any programs on health?” Dr. Lulu Bravo, Executive Director of the National Institute of Health (NIH) asked.

The 7th National Nutrition Survey surveyed 79 provinces and a total of 191,316 individuals or 36,634 households.

The scientists found that among children zero to five years old, three out of 10 or 3.3 million are underweight while two in every 100 or 260,000 are overweight.

In children aged six to 10 years, three out of 10 or 2.8 million are underweight.

“Three in every 10 are underheight or stunted in growth and between 2005 to 2008, the problem of undernutrition increased. Mostly affected children are found in Mimaropa (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan), Bicol and selected areas in Visayas and Mindanao,” the Anthropometric survey of the study added.