A Review of Public Expenditures for Nutrition in National Government Agencies of the Philippines (2017–2019)

Given the persistently high under-5 stunting prevalence in the Philippines, it is important to look at how the country has invested in nutrition interventions to inform priorities for future resource mobilization. Measuring and tracking nutrition financing is critical for transparency, accountability, improving resource mobilization, and bolstering advocacy activities. This review analyzes the level of public spending for nutrition of 19 national government agencies (NGAs) in the Philippines for 2017–2019, including an analysis of allocation patterns across and within sectors. This paper utilizes the methodology of the Scaling Up Nutrition Movement to measure public spending on nutrition in select NGAs. To improve the coherence of public expenditures for nutrition, it is recommended to increase funding for enabling interventions, prioritize investments in the first 1,000 days of a child’s life, especially interventions at home that directly impact child dietary intake, and conduct further implementation research to understand how best to deliver interventions at home.