By Ma. Teresa Montemayor/PNA
MANILA — The South Korean government, through the Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) launched on Thursday an integrated and nutrition and health program targeting the first 1,000 days of life.
This project, in partnership with the Department of Health and National Nutrition Council (NNC), will benefit vulnerable children and women in Samar, Northern Samar and Zamboanga del Norte.
South Korean Ambassador to the Philippines Han Dong-Man said Seoul fully supports the Philippine government in its objective to provide universal health care and address malnutrition nationwide.
“By giving assistance to this project, the most vulnerable, the mothers and children ages zero to five years old will be ensured access to vital health and nutrition services, which will help them develop fully later in life,” Han said in a press briefing in Pasig City.
KOICA provided USD6 million for the project, which targets 19 local government units (LGUs)in the three provinces to reach 12,000 infants between zero and five months old and 36,000 infants between six months and 23 months old.
It also aims to reach children from poor families and those from geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas, as well as 57,000 pregnant and lactating women.
The project likewise seeks to improve the LGUs’ policies, governance frameworks, and service delivery systems, and enhance the capacity of 1,370 nutrition and health personnel.
UNICEF Philippines Representative Lotta Sylwander, meanwhile, said the damage to health, physical growth and brain development of children affected by chronic under-nutrition, especially in the first two years, is often irreversible — impairing children for life and leaving them with lower chances of finishing school and becoming highly-productive adults.
“We thank the Korean government for supporting the Filipino child’s right to survive and thrive. Supporting interventions at the local level is important to reach every vulnerable mother and child, especially those who do not have access to essential services,” she said.
UNICEF Philippines and NNC’s joint research project revealed that every USD1 (about PHP53) invested in interventions to combat child malnutrition and accompanying problems can save USD12 (about PHP639) in foregone earnings or health expenditures – equivalent to a 12:1 benefit-cost ratio.
Through the Kalusugan at Nutrisyon ng Mag-Nanay Act or First 1,000 Days Law, the national and local governments aim to solve problems in providing comprehensive nutrition and health services for the first 1,000 days to women, newborns and children; and improving knowledge attitudes and practices of pregnant women, mothers and caregivers with regard to nutrition and health, among others.
