BAGUIO CITY August 12 – Cordillera Administrative Region- A total of 44,102 children here were able to benefit from the fourth cycle implementation of the Supplementary Feeding Program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
The Supplementary Feeding Program or SFP is one of the programs of the Government which aims to improve and sustain the nutritional status of target children beneficiaries by providing hot or regular meals for 120 feeding days.
“We are implementing SFP in partnership with our local government units (LGUs). As of the 2nd quarter of 2015, we are already able to download around 70 million pesos to the LGUs which serves as our augmentation support for feeding program for children in LGU managed Day Care Centers”, DSWD-CAR Regional Director Janet P. Armas shared.
A total of P70,102,500.00 has been provided to the 77 LGUs in the region to cover expenses on viand and rice allocation of the children. Under the program, P 10.00 for the viand and P 3.00 for the rice is allotted per child. The meals are prepared by the parents or guardians of the children beneficiaries using indigenous food or local produce available in the communities.
“With the involvement of the parents, we are able to increase their knowledge in the proper preparation and selection of food for their children. Through this, we are hoping that the parents are able to adopt this in their homes and make sure that their children get the sufficient nutrients to make them healthy”, SFP Focal Person Edeline Genove said.
As of 3 August 2015, the SFP was able to monitor 41,447 children with normal weight, 1,443 underweight and 206 overweight children.
“Reports show that there are changes with the children’s weights after six months of feeding. For the municipality of Bangued in Abra for example, we were able to monitor 169 underweight children, but after the feeding, we are able to record only 115”, Nutritionist Dietician Alitha Directo shared.
Under the SFP, meals provided for the children are ensured to satisfy 1/3 of the Recommended Energy and Nutrient Intake (RENI).
“For 2015, we will be implementing the 5th cycle of SFP and we are hoping to sustain the impact of the program with the help of our stakeholders like the LGUs, day care workers, and the parents”, Dir. Armas added.
For the 5th cycle, SFP has allocated P 68,307,720.00 to cover the target of 43,787 children in 2,020 Child Development Centers in the region, DSWD-CAR, Social Marketing Unit.
