FINDING ANSWERS
The Children’s First One Thousand Days Coalition (CFDC) has gotten significant support in its mission to tackle malnutrition during the critical period in a child’s life—from conception to age two.
No less than First Lady Marie Louise “Liza” Araneta Marcos led the June 15 regional launch of the CFDC nutrition program in the island province of Guimaras where beneficiaries included 34 pregnant women nutritionally at risk due to extreme poverty.
The CFDC program provides direct interventions to ensure adequate nutrition and proper healthcare for both mother and child. The interventions include strict monitoring of food supplements throughout pregnancy, six months of exclusive breastfeeding after birth, transitioning to semi-solid and solid foods, and also mandatory vaccinations.
The First Lady’s support for the nutrition program of CFDC, of which I’m national project chairman, is highly significant. As President Marcos Jr. is deemed “father of the nation” that people look up to with deep respect, the First Lady is viewed as our nation’s mother – a loving and caring mother who can be very inspiring.
We certainly appreciate her invaluable support which greatly boosts efforts of the CFDC to combat malnutrition in collaboration with local governments and national government agencies, in line with RA 11148 or the “Kalusugan at Nutrisyon ng Magnanay Act” passed in 2018.
As the law mandates a whole-of-government approach, in partnership with private sector and civil society organizations, to combat malnutrition that has been plaguing the country for decades, the First Lady’s involvement is undoubtedly essential.
Her eagerness to help with the CFDC initiative is admirable. As PCSO general manager Mel Robles puts it, quoting from a PNA report, the initiative “is one of the advocacies that was easily picked up by the First Lady when approached about it.” He said the First Lady “intends to have it part of the ‘Lab for All’ project” to bring free medical and laboratory services, including medicines, to the countryside.
With the First Lady’s support for which we are very much thankful, we at the CFDC—which consists of more than 50 NGOs and civic groups—feel more encouraged to do all we can toward achieving our ultimate goal of making Filipino children “BTS” or “brighter, taller, stronger.”
Let me also thank everyone who made the Guimaras launching a success, particularly Interior and Local Government Secretary Benjamin “Benhur” Abalos Jr., Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa, Western Visayas Regional Development Council Head and Bacolod City Mayor Alfredo Benitez, Guimaras Gov. JC Rahman Nava, Guimaras CFDC Chair Dr. Michael Raymond Aragon, and the heads of the various regional line agencies.
At the regional launch were 34 beneficiaries from 12 barangays across San Lorenzo town who were identified as nutritionally-at-risk.
The pilot program in Guimaras will lead to expansion plans for other regions, like the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, Mimaropa, Eastern Visayas, and the Bicol region where malnutrition rates are deemed high by the National Nutrition Council.
The CFDC aims to target most vulnerable beneficiaries, estimated to be 500,000 nationwide per year, utilizing an operations manual with specific interventions, conducted in coordination with the NNC and LGUs, aimed at optimizing the health of mother and child throughout pre-pregnancy, pregnancy, and post-pregnancy stages.
The operations manual focuses on comprehensive dietary guidance during pregnancy, promoting a balanced diet rich in essential nutrients and trimester-specific nutrition, and breastfeeding support for lactating mothers.
The need for a unified, systematic, coordinated approach to address malnutrition is of extreme urgency amid UNICEF findings that 95 Filipino children die each day from malnutrition, 27 out of every 1,000 kids do not survive beyond their 5th birthday, one-third of our children are stunted, and stunting after age two can be permanent, irreversible, even fatal.
The CFDC’s mission to fight malnutrition/undernutrtion 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 of life is associated with poorer performance in school as brain development has been affected, and malnourished children are more likely to get sick and miss classes.
Thus, the first 1,000 days which comprise the most crucial period are when interventions for proper nutrition and healthcare need to happen, otherwise it might just be too late for feeding programs and other interventions beyond this most crucial phase in a child’s life.
The CFDC membership includes, among others, Rotary International, Lions Club International, Kiwanis International, Free and Accepted Masons of the Philippines, The Fraternal Order of Eagles – Philippine Eagles, Knights of Columbus, Knights of Rizal, Save the Children Philippines, World Vision Philippines, Chamber of Customs Brokers Inc., Brotherhood of Christian Businessmen and Professionals, Philippine League of Government and Private Midwives, and Crusade Against Violence.
The CFDC looks forward to more nutrition champions joining the coalition. In the meantime, the CFDC welcomes and expresses its appreciation to First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos as the “Ina ng Bayan” nutrition champ. ([email protected])