A child rights group will conduct health awareness sessions to educate children and their families on the importance of cleanliness and personal hygiene to protect themselves from COVID-19 and other life-threatening diseases.
“Children are among the most vulnerable to diseases and infection, including COVID-19,” said Save the Children Philippines Chief Executive Officer Atty. Alberto Muyot.
Muyot, a former Undersecretary of the Department of Education (DepEd), also emphasized that hand hygiene is life-saving and key to helping children and their families stay healthy during the pandemic.
Given this, Muyot also urged the local governments to ensure the health and safety of children - including school-age children - to ensure continued learning.
Citing data from DepEd, Save the Children Philippines revealed that more than half of all public schools in the country have limited or no access to water supply.
To help some of these schools set up the needed handwashing facilities, Save the Children said that it will use the health and hygiene grant awarded by Cardinal Health Foundation worth US$35,000 (Php1.6 million).
The grant was awarded to the group to support health and hygiene needs of learners in Rizal province to ensure their health and safety amid the COVID-19 pandemic. “We are thankful to the philanthropic support of Cardinal Health Foundation to help improve and protect the health of Filipino learners, especially in these critical times,” Muyot said.
The Cardinal Health Foundation is the charitable arm of Cardinal Health, a global integrated healthcare services and products company headquartered in Dublin, Ohio that provides customized solutions for hospitals, health systems, pharmacies, ambulatory surgery centers, clinical laboratories, and physician offices worldwide.
Cardinal Health International Philippines Country Managing Director Shane Abeyratne said that the two organizations share the same goal of promoting proper health and nutrition. “We’re proud to support this important work,” he added.
Save the Children Philippines will use the funds to set up handwashing facilities in some 15 public elementary schools in the province of Rizal. It will also provide age-appropriate personal hygiene supplies to learners - including adolescent female school children
The said grant will also benefit Save the Children Philippines’ All Kids School Health Involvement and Empowerment (All Kids SHINE) program which provides support to the local government of Rizal for the health and hygiene needs of children from poor families, and those living in remote areas, including the Dumagat Indigenous Peoples community.