The Parañaque city government distributed Noche Buena food packs to 3,873 families with malnourished children in their households.
According to the City Nutrition Office officer-in-charge Dr. Mercy Bunao, the distribution of Noche Buena food packs to malnourished children is an initiative of the wife of Mayor Eric Olivarez, Aileen Olivarez, who is also the City Nutrition Action Officer.
The distribution was made in coordination with the General Services Office, the Special Services Office, the Urban Mission Areas Development Office, and the city’s Barangay Nutrition Scholars.
“We have a lot of malnourished children in the city and the situation was made worse by the pandemic,” Mrs. Olivarez said.
“That is why we made it a priority to include families with malnourished children in the distribution of our Noche Buena food packs.” said Bunao.
Bunao explained that malnutrition cases are classified as either severe acute malnutrition (SAM) or moderate acute malnutrition (MAM), and they are regularly targeted for nutrition intervention especially during the pandemic.
A total of 373 food packs were distributed all over the city to households with SAM cases, while the bigger chunk of 3,500 food packs were delivered to households with MAM cases.