Decline in self-rated poverty, hunger encouraging — DSWD
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) on Tuesday, April 23 welcomed the latest results of the OCTA Research “Tugon ng Masa” survey, which showed a decline in self-rated poverty and hunger in the first quarter of 2024.
DSWD Assistant Secretary for Disaster Response Management Group (DRMG) and spokesperson Irene Dumlao said the survey results show that the government is on the right track to providing a whole-of-nation and whole-of-government approach in fighting hunger and poverty.
“We, in the DSWD, are happy with the survey results and will continue to strengthen our social protection programs to continue to improve the lives of our kababayans (countrymen),” Dumlao said in a statement.
The OCTA survey, conducted from March 11 to 14, revealed that 42 percent of Filipino families considered themselves poor in the first quarter of 2024 (11.1 million families), a slight decrease from 45 percent in the fourth quarter of 2023 (11.9 million families).
The survey also revealed a slight decrease in involuntary hunger from 14 percent in the fourth quarter of 2023, or about 3.7 million families, to 11 percent, or an estimated 2.9 million households, in the first quarter of 2024.
READ MORE: https://mb.com.ph/2024/4/23/self-rated-poverty-hunger-decline-in-q1-2024-octa
The Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) is one of the programs that the DSWD hopes will contribute to the national government’s efforts to combat poverty and hunger.
The 4Ps is the national government’s flagship program for poverty reduction and social development, which provides cash grants to extremely poor households to improve their health, nutrition, and education, with a focus on children 18 years old and below.
Another initiative is the Walang Gutom 2027: Food Stamp Program (FSP), which will expand its reach in July, from 3,000 to 300,000 beneficiaries nationwide.
The FSP is one of the priority programs of the Marcos administration, which aims to fight involuntary hunger by providing food augmentation to the “bottom” 1 million households that fall into the “food-poor” category.
DSWD has also collaborated with local government units to implement the supplementary feeding program, which provides nutritious snacks and hot meals to supplement the regular meals of children enrolled in supervised neighborhood play and child development centers.
As it chairs the Inter-Agency Task Force on Zero Hunger, DSWD said it will also continue to prioritize the implementation and monitoring of nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive programs to combat food insecurity in the country.