P6B allotted for 3-year childhood care program

• Source:http://www.sunstar.com.ph/davao/local-news/2016/01/18/p6b-allotted-3-year-childhood-care-program-452440
• Monday, January 18, 2016

(ICT)

THE national government has set aside close to P6 billion for the three-year implementation of the Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) intervention package which will start this year.

In Monday's Kapehan sa Dabaw at SM City, National Nutrition Council (NNC) Davao director Maria Teresa Ungson said the budget comes from different government agencies to help improve nutrition of children in the Philippines.

The program involves agencies, such as Department of Health (DOH), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Bureau of Animal Industry (Bai), Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), ECCD and NNC.

Of the total allocated budget of P5.973 billion, for 2016-2018, P897.8 million comes from DOH, P3.956 million from DSWD, P2.4 million from BFAR, 396.2 million from BAI, P37.2 million from ECCD, and P683.4 million from NNC.

Ungson said the ECCD intervention package aims to provide integrated services on health, nutrition, early education and social services on the most crucial period of one's growth and development--the first 1,000 days of life.

She said the objective is to reduce mortality and morbidity rates among children 0-23 months old, reduce the prevalence of stunting and wasting among children 0-23 months old, and increase the children's meeting developmental milestone.

"We want to fight malnutrition especially stunting. We want to give necessary services to promote a good pregnancy, child with good brain development and proper growth development of a child physically and mentally," Ungson said.

The ECCD will be implemented in all Accelerated and Sustainable Anti-Poverty Program (Asapp) municipalities from the category one provinces as determined by the Cabinet Cluster on Human Development and Poverty Reduction targeting pregnant women, children 0-23 months old, and parents/caregivers.

Davao del Sur is on the ninth of the tenth list of areas in the country chosen as the recipients of the ECCD intervention package. The NNC is targeting Digos City, and the towns of Hagonoy and Magsaysay, covering 69 barangays.

Records showed that there are 9,526 pregnant women in three areas of the province, with 3,674 0-5 months old and 11,023 6-23 months old children.

"Nagulat nga kami na meron din sa Davao Region. Basically, ito yung mga services ng government na i-strengthen like pregnancy of the mother hanggang sa pagpanganak niya then hanggang sa two-years-old na ang bata," Ungson said.

Other areas chosen as recipients for the ECCD intervention package are Pangasinan, Quezon, Camarines Sur, Iloilo, Negros Occidental, Cebu, Leyte, Zamboangadel Sur and Sulu.

"This is a problem of the whole country. I mean the stunting is really staggering... there are 14 countries in the whole world that have high stunting rates, and Philippines is part of those 14 countries," Ungson said.

Citing the Unicef Global Nutrition Database 2012, 80 percent of the world's stunted children live in 14 countries. The Philippines was on the ninth list with 34 percent stunted children.

To help improve the nutrition status of the children, Ungson said the national government will have to push for ECCD intervention package.

Currently, the program is on its preparatory phase and NNC is on its social preparation stage conducting activities to make ECCD intervention package implementation-ready.