The implementation of a World Bank loan aimed at reducing stunting among Filipino children is progressing satisfactorily ahead of next year’s closing date.

In a Sept. 3 implementation status and results report, the Washington-based multilateral lender said that the Philippines Multisectoral Nutrition Project (PMNP) has shown “significant progress in implementing activities across its various components.”

PMNP, which is being jointly implemented by the departments of Health (DOH) and of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) aims to enhance the use of nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive intervention as well as promote key behaviors and practices proven to reduce stunting in targeted local government units (LGUs).

It was the Duterte administration’s last World Bank loan before President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. took over in mid-2022.

The report noted that as of August 2025, the project’s disbursement rate increased to over 77 percent from 60 percent in February.

This means that, to date, $137.22 million out of the $178.1-million loan has been spent, leaving $40.88 million in available financing that should be fully disbursed by end-June next year.

“Overall, project implementation is satisfactory and remains on track to achieve its development objectives,” the World Bank said.

According to the report, all 235 municipalities covered by PMNP “have received nutrition commodities from the DOH and other input support packages.”

One of the key drivers of this success has been the performance-based grant (PBG) mechanism, which has incentivized LGUs to improve delivery of nutrition services, the World Bank explained.

The DSWD had also reported major milestones, having “completed all community sub-projects and conducted the first round of sustainability evaluations for all the sub-projects, achieving nearly 100-percent satisfactory results,” the report said.

In 2021, the World Bank reported that the Philippines was suffering from a “silent pandemic”—childhood stunting resulting from undernutrition. Stunted children are smaller in height compared to healthier same-aged kids.

Pre-pandemic, 29 percent of Filipino children aged five and below were stunted, World Bank estimates in 2019 revealed. The Philippines had the fifth-highest stunting prevalence in the East Asia and Pacific (EAP) region and was in the top 10 globally.

Stunting had been mostly blamed on micronutrient undernutrition among infants, kids, and pregnant women. The Covid-19 pandemic also likely aggravated stunting and undernutrition in the country, according to the World Bank.