January 4, 2024
The local government of Dumaguete City has dedicated PHP2.1 million to ensure that young children, as well as pregnant and breastfeeding mothers, receive nourishing food and fresh milk. City Nutrition Officer Delia Serion announced on Thursday that this initiative aims to improve the health and nutrition of these vulnerable groups.
Starting next week, the program will begin distributing fresh milk, coinciding with the ongoing provision of fortified food, which is already supporting hundreds of individuals. The beneficiaries of these dual initiatives include preschool-aged children and mothers, both pregnant and lactating. They will receive wholesome hot meals, which are prepared by the mothers and local nutrition workers in the community, along with packs of fortified foods.
According to Serion, the ingredients for these meals are provided weekly, enabling families to cook these nutritious dishes at home and share them within their communities. This initiative supplements their regular home diets. The funding for this project, which is set to run for a minimum of four months, comes from the city’s Gender and Development budget. It targets undernourished, underweight, or growth-stunted preschoolers, as well as pregnant and breastfeeding mothers who are at nutritional risk.
The food package includes nutrient-rich ‘nutri-buns,’ enriched with essential vitamins and minerals, and other fortified foods sourced from the Nutrition Center of the Philippines. Additionally, the program will offer fresh cow’s milk, supplied by a local producer in Tanjay City, Negros Oriental. This milk will be given out thrice weekly, with each recipient receiving a 357 ml bottle on every distribution day.
The program is set to benefit 87 pregnant and breastfeeding women, 134 preschoolers aged 6 to 59 months for complementary feeding, and 187 children aged 25 to 59 months for supplementary feeding. Notably, children below 59 months old will not be included in the fresh milk-feeding program.
Serion highlighted that these nutritional interventions, alongside the employment of 50 community nutrition workers, are part of Dumaguete City’s broader strategy to tackle malnutrition and promote health among its youngest residents and mothers.
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