BATANGAS CITY – Nutritional status among Batangueño malnourished children, who are beneficiaries of the Supplementary Feeding Program, has improved, according to the Provincial Health Office following its yearly “Oplan Timbang (OPT)”, the weigh-in program to determine the nutritional condition among children.
Jenelyn A. Aguilera, chief of the Batangas public information office disclosed Monday that the malnourished children – according to the underweight bracket – have gained weight from 11 kilos to more than 15 kilos while those from the severely underweight category have improved from 8.9 kilos to 14.3 kilos.
Aguilera said that Governor Hermilando Mandanas was pleased of the development as he personally led the 2018 Nutrition Month Celebration and greeted the now healthy and energetic kids during ceremonies themed “Malnutrisyon ay Labanan, Tamang Nutrisyon Makakamtan” (Let’s fight malnutrition and achieve proper nutrition) at the Provincial Capitol auditorium last July 25.
She said that following the latest development on the gained weight among program beneficiaries, Mandanas has vowed to sustain the program by providing the necessary food supplements as 70 percent of the beneficiary children have improved their nutritional status and the prevalence rate of malnutrition has declined.
Under the province’s Supplementary Feeding Program, malnourished children 2 to 4 years old are given nutritious food supplements five days per week for three months.
The intensified program is part of the governor’s health, education, livelihood and protection (H-E-L-P) governance thrust.
She said that the weight and height of these kids are also monitored through the “Oplan Timbang” and height measurement, which serve as bases for necessary intervention for malnourished children.
The Provincial Health Office (PHO) also reported that it has surveyed around 1,000 underweight and severely underweight pre-school children in 2017, where some 314 children target beneficiaries were reported from Balayan town for the municipal category while around 50 children were identified from Batangas City for the city category.
Provincial health and nutrition officials also expressed optimism to reduce malnutrition in the province and were slated to intensify food assistance program in the province’s various barangays next month.
To achieve this, the PHO will be tapping the support of parents, Barangay Nutrition Scholars (BNS) and Barangay Health Workers (BHS) as community mobilizers and program partners in the target barangays for the intensified Supplementary Feeding Program. (Saul Pa-a/PNA)
