FINDING ANSWERS

“I believe the children are our future/teach them well and let them lead the way...”

The first lines of the famous song — The Greatest Love of All — popularized in 1986 by the late Whitney Houston speaks of a universal truth: The future lies in the hands of today’s children.

It is imperative, therefore, to teach them well so they can lead the way forward. But besides teaching them well, it is essential to feed them well, too.

In fact, feeding them with nutritious food needed by mind and body is even of greater importance, especially during the crucial first thousand days of a child’s life – from the time of conception in the mother’s womb up to the second birthday.

Science has shown the dire consequences of poor nutrition and inadequate health care during that crucial period of 1,000 days: children are prone to illnesses, low IQ, poor school performance and low productivity when they survive to become adults.

Studies on brain development by experts, from neuro scientists to child care specialists worldwide, all point to this: The various forms of malnutrition in the first 1,000 days of life can cause tremendous damage to a growing brain, affecting the child’s learning and cognitive abilities.

With such damage more likely to be irreversible, nutrition-specific interventions after the first thousand days could likely produce very limited positive results. Many believe the nutritious feeding programs for the malnourished child who has reached school age might already be too late.

Thus, it is vital that interventions are made during that crucial period of the first 1,000 days when there is a golden window of opportunity for a child to be sufficiently nourished in a nurturing environment, leading to success in school and in a career afterwards.

The critical interventions, or lack of it, during that crucial period could spell the difference between a rewarding life in which the child flourishes, or an impoverished life of misery with many health problems.

UNICEF Philippines has presented appalling data that cannot be ignored: 95 Filipino children die daily from malnutrition, 27 out of every 1,000 children do not get past their fifth birthday, and stunting after age two can be permanent and even fatal.

“The persistence of very high levels of childhood undernutrition, despite decades of economic growth and poverty reduction, could lead to a staggering loss of the country’s human and economic potential,” the World Bank (WB) has said.

The WB also revealed that the Philippines’ Human Capital Index (HCI) of 0.52 “indicates that the future productivity of a child born today will be half of what could have been achieved with complete education and full health.”

Even the recent first-year report of the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EdCom II) cites grim data: “The Philippines has one of the highest prevalence of under-5 stunting in the world, at 26.7 percent, compared to the global average of 22.3 percent... The Philippines performs worse on stunting and low birth weight than many regional peers and low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) with comparable gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, such as Nepal, Cambodia, and Senegal.”

The EdCom II report also said: “Nutrition-specific interventions in the Philippines for children below five years old generally adhere to global recommendations, but implementation has been fragmented, coverage remains low, and targeting of interventions has been weak.”

What the WB, EdCom II, and UNICEF have said can be very disturbing. It is in such context that the Children’s First One Thousand Days Coalition (CFDC) was formed  – to help government implement RA 11148 which calls for a whole-of-government approach, in collaboration with civil society organizations and the private sector, to fight malnutrition.
The CFDC has an operations manual that illustrates how non-government organizations (NGOs) can combine efforts with barangay governments, together with DILG, DOH, and DSWD, to optimize the health of both mother and child, with precise interventions throughout the pre-pregnancy, pregnancy, and post-pregnancy stages.

It’s now all systems go for CFDC in its mission. To raise funds to help NGOs in their barangay nutrition program, the CFDC will present, in partnership with The Manila Hotel, a pre-Valentine concert called “The Greatest Love of All” where I’ll be singing with former Press Secretary Atty. Mike Toledo and former Executive Secretary Atty. Salvador Medialdea,
The concert is on Feb. 9, 2024, 6 p.m., at the Tent City of The Manila Hotel. Also performing are Beverly Salviejo, Niña Campos, Jenny Sugay, Rachelle Rule, Rachel Verns, Pam Esquivel, Bobby Alvarez, Egay Rubiano, Jeffrey Panado, Egay Banaag, and the Adeodatus Children’s Choir (Baseco) with Manila Philharmonic Orchestra. Rodel Colmenar leads the music direction, with George Sison-Tagle and Paul Dizon supervising the overall direction of the concert.

Whitney’s hit song, written by Linda Creed and Michael Masser, says the greatest love of all is “learning to love yourself.” Love of God and country can also be the greatest. It can be shown by loving our children. If a child is deemed a blessing or gift from God, then loving the child is loving God. And if we truly love our country, we ought to love our children who are our country’s future. Let’s all help to ensure future generations of Filipinos are smarter, stronger, taller. ([email protected])