FINDING ANSWERS
All Saturdays this May were devoted by the Children’s First One Thousand Days Coalition (CFDC) to train different batches of trainers who, in turn, will train those in government and non-government organizations (NGOs) on how to go about fighting malnutrition among Filipino children during the crucial period from conception to age two.
The role of NGOs is in line with RA 11148, the “Kalusugan at Nutrisyon ng Magnanay Act,” which calls for a whole-of-government approach, with the participation of civil society organizations and the private sector, to scale up nutrition during a child’s first 1,000 days of life – a critical time that spells the difference between an impoverished life of misery with many health problems, or a life of good health and success.
The need for a unified, systematic, coordinated approach to address malnutrition during the critical period is of extreme urgency amid UNICEF findings that 95 Filipino children die each day from malnutrition, 27 of every 1,000 kids don’t get past their fifth birthday, one-third of our children are stunted, and stunting after age two can be permanent, irreversible and even fatal.
Of paramount importance, therefore, is the no-nonsense implementation of RA 11148 or “An Act Scaling Up the National and Local Health and Nutrition Programs through a Strengthened Integrated Strategy for Maternal, Neonatal, Child Health and Nutrition in the First One Thousand (1,000) Days of Life, Appropriating Funds Therefore and for Other Purposes.”
With the CFDC, of which I’m national project chairman, on a mission to help government fully implement RA 11148, it is hoped that the adverse effects of widespread malnutrition – primarily low cognitive ability and low economic productivity – would no longer be disturbingly prevalent within the next 10 years or until 2034.
The CFDC uses an operation manual that outlines specific interventions — conducted in coordination with the National Nutrition Council (NNC) and local government units — aimed at optimizing the health of both the mother and child throughout the pre-pregnancy, pregnancy, and post-pregnancy stages.
The importance of comprehensive dietary guidance during pregnancy, promoting balanced diet rich in essential nutrients, and providing trimester-specific nutrition is stressed in the manual, as well as the need for monitoring and evaluation – focusing on breastfeeding support, optimal nutrition, and growth.
Other key features of the CFDC manual include steps on how NGO member could go about adopting barangays particularly in depressed areas of the country where rampant poverty leads many pregnant women to become “nutritionally at risk” and thus, in need of specific interventions.
The CFDC manual also provides for the formation of a Thousand Days Committee (TDC) by NGOs, establishment of a joint NGO and Barangay First One Thousand Days Nutrition Committee (NBJC) to educate communities, identify pregnant and lactating mothers, and enroll them in the First One Thousand Days Nutrition Program.
It also shows how to go about with the NGOs’ collaboration with Department of Health-accredited health centers, Barangay Health Workers (BHWs), and Barangay Nutrition Scholars (BNSs) for regular health checkups, monitoring, and data collection.
The training of trainers, who will impart their knowledge at the grassroots level, was certainly necessary to bring about sustained and coordinated efforts in developing “nutrition champions” to help educate and increase awareness of people on the need for adequate nutrition and a nurturing environment for Filipino children at a very critical stage of their life.
The CFDC is grateful to all the resource persons whose profound knowledge and dedication greatly enriched the experience of training participants. These remarkable speakers include Dr. Azucena Dayanghirang, NNC executive director; Dr. Maria Isabel Atienza, dean of St. Luke’s College of Medicine; Engr. Tet Aguila, chief technology officer of OneLGC; Ellen Ruth Abella, OIC of NNC’s Nutrition Surveillance Division; and Reginald Guillen, OIC Chief of NNC’s Nutrition Policy and Planning Division.
Other speakers were Dr. Dona Isabel Capili of Kalusugan ng Mag-Ina; NNC nutrition officer Kristian Bandong; NNC’s Queenie Amosco-De Jesus; Bro. Joffe Almoro and Bro. Lito Pardo of the Brotherhood of Christian Businessmen and Professionals; NNC nutrition officer Jomay Tongol; Dr. Maria Asuncion Silvestre, president of Kalusugan ng Mag-Ina; and CFDC executive director John Gacutan.
The CFDC’s mission to help fight malnutrition/undernutrition is of paramount importance amid what a World Bank report said about the Philippines: “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.”
UNICEF Philippines said that malnutrition in the first 1,000 days is associated with poorer performance in school as brain development is affected, and malnourished children are more likely to get sick and miss classes.
And when our students perform poorly, the consequences to our country’s future can be devastating. Thus, training the trainers who, in turn, would train those in the frontlines combating malnutrition is certainly vital. ([email protected])