GENERAL SANTOS CITY — The provincial government of South Cotabato is targeting to rehabilitate some 300 severely malnourished children until the end of the year through its expanded nutrition program.
Ma. Ana Uy, provincial nutrition action officer, said Tuesday they have started consolidating their partner agencies and organizations for a convergence legwork to reach out to severely malnourished children, especially those in the remote areas.
Under the initiative, she said some 240 recipients would be identified through recommendations from district nutrition program coordinators within the province’s 10 towns and lone city.
She said the selected children would receive food and milk assistance under a 60-day supplementary feeding program facilitated by the “Bulig Mo, Bwas Damlag Ko Project.”
Uy said the provincial government is planning to purchase choco milk from the Philippine Carabao Center based in Kabacan, North Cotabato to augment the daily nutrition of the malnourished children.
The official said the target of 240 beneficiaries and the convergence work was approved by the Provincial Nutrition Council.
“This is separate from the malnutrition target of every town,” Uy said.
Meantime, under the local government’s “Sagop Bata Project,” the official said they have identified 60 malnourished pre-school children as beneficiaries.
She said the council has targeted to serve six severely underweight pre-schoolers from each of the province’s 10 towns in line with the project.
The local government has been implementing Sagop Bata, which is spearheaded by the nutrition section of the Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office, in the last 16 years.
The project mainly provides 90-day supplementary feeding assistance to identified malnourished children in the province.
Aside from this, mothers of the recipients are given access to livelihood and skills training programs to enable them to find stable sources of living and ensure that “there is food on the table” for their families. (Anna liza Cabrido/PNA)
