City Maintains Supplementary Feeding Program

CEBU, Philippines - Lapu-Lapu City Health Officer Rodulfo Berame yesterday said the city government is continuing its campaign against malnutrition by providing supplementary feeding to malnourished children.

Berame said malnourished children in the city number about 4,000 and are being given micro nutrients and supplementary food for 120 days at a stretch.

He said no comparative figure is available but Berame said the number of poorly nourished children is consistently declining owing to the millions of pesos that the city is spending to purchase micro nutrients.

The city has received a Crown Award for its consistency and excellence in the implementation of health programs from 2006 to 2009.

Of the 30 barangays, barangays Bankal in the mainland and Caubian islet have the most malnourished children whose ages range from zero to six years old.

The city began to tighten its campaign against malnutrition after the National Nutritional Council approved a resolution urging the adoption of the new World Health Organization’s (WHO) child growth standard for children zero to five years old.

The WHO changes the age bracket every two years. The maximum age to benefit from the free health feeding program was six in 2007. This year, the age bracket is from zero to five years old.

The Lapu-Lapu City District Hospital no longer has a malnutrition ward. It was phased out in 2008 after the city decided to focus the program in every barangay hiring barangay nutrition scholars to reinforce the barangay health workers.

In the years 2006, 2007, and 2008, the city received Green Banner Award and P100,000 for its health programs.   (FREEMAN NEWS)