A vice chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations on Thursday urged local government units (LGUs) to maximize the P5.9-billion Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) intervention package.
Nacionalista Party Rep. Luis Raymund F. Villafuerte Jr. of Camarines Sur said LGUs should expand their respective health, nutrition and water-sanitation programs supportive of infant care and development in order to better protect babies from deadly diseases through the ECCD.
Chosen as recipients of the P5.9- billion, three-year ECCD intervention package implemented starting last year were Camarines Sur, Davao del Sur, Pangasinan, Quezon Province, Iloilo, Negros Occidental, Cebu, Leyte, Zamboanga del Sur and Sulu.
The program’s objective is to reduce mortality and morbidity rates among children 0 to 23 months old, reduce the prevalence of stunting and wasting among of the same age bracket, and increase chances of children meeting developmental milestones.
According to Villafuerte, LGUs should take their cue from the Quezon City government, which has been cited by the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) just recently as a model for its integrated First 1,000 Days Program, which aims to put in place measures to ensure quality care for infants from conception up to the child’s second birthday.
“The first 1,000 days in the life of a child, which includes its 270 days inside the mother’s womb up to the time he or she is 2 years old, is crucial in reducing mortality and malnutrition rates among Filipino children. It is, thus, imperative for LGUs to come up with their respective infant-care programs,” said Villafuerte, also vice chairman of the House Committee on Local Government.
The lawmaker added poor communities in his province were fortunate enough to be among the recipients of the ECCD Intervention Package from the national government that provides integrated services on health, nutrition, early education and social services on the first 1,000 days of life.
To institutionalize the program down to the barangay level, Villafuerte said the government should implement a maternal- and child-care program in every village covering the first 1,000 days of an infant’s development.
Approval
Meanwhile, Villafuerte added the approval of House Bill 1340, or the First 1,000 Days Act, will help institutionalize the program.
Citing data from the latest National Nutrition Survey, he said the “overall malnutrition or stunting rate for Filipino children aged zero to 2 was at its worst in the last 10 years at 26.2 percent in 2015—an indication that growth was not inclusive and that inequality between the rich and the poor continued to widen”.
Villafuerte said the maternal- and child-care program covered by HB 1340 includes nutritional counseling, immunization and vitamin supplementation for the mother; intensified community-based food-production projects to ensure the adequate supply of nutritious foods; exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months and complementary feeding.
The program also includes psychosocial services for pregnant and lactating mothers; complete immunization services for children; treating malnourished children with special and therapeutic food; and general family counseling, including child and family development.
Under the bill, the Department of Health and its National Nutrition Council are tasked to develop the barangay-based maternal- and child-care program in coordination with the departments of the Interior and Local Government and of Social Welfare and Development, and the Food and Nutrition Research Institute of the Department of Science and Technology.
In the Senate, Sen. Grace Poe- Llamanzares has filed a similar bill calling for the establishment of a maternal- and child-care program in every barangay that would also cover the first 1,000 days of a baby’s life.