Post to feed
Valenzuela City Feeding Program Nourishes Kids, Mothers
2014-02-18 
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CONFRONTING MALNUTRITION
A girl present during the program's launch in Polo Activity Center on Feb. 15, is one of the more than 3,000 children beneficiaries of the Alagang Valenzuelano Barangay-based Feeding Program. |
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BNW AT WORK
A barangay nutrition worker helps facilitate the distribution of boxes of ready-to-cook meals as part of the Alagang Valenzuelano Barangay-based Feeding Program. |
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PROGRAM LAUNCH
BBFP action officer Janina Bautista and City Health Department's mascot Dr. Valenzuela before the program's beneficiaries during its launch in Brgy. Gen T de Leon, Feb. 16. |
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IN THE BAG
The program entitles 3,538 children from poor families to receive boxes that contain fortified ready-to-cook meals that are appropriate for their age and health status, to be rationed at the barangay health stations every two weeks for three years. |
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HEIGHT OF MALNUTRITION
The BBFP has selected 3,538 children from poor families to receive food package that are appropriate for their age and health status, to be rationed at the barangay health stations every two weeks for three years. |
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3-YEAR SOLUTION
With some 3,500 cases of malnutrition among children aged 5 years and below, the city government aims to intervene and eradicate the problem with a 3-year Barangay-Based Feeding Program. |
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ASSIGNED BOXES
Mayor REX Gatchalian leads the distribution of assigned boxes to recipients of the city government's Barangay-Based Feeding Program in Polo Activity Center, Feb. 15, 2014. |
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WINNING THE FIGHT VS MALNUTRITION
Rep. WIN Gatchalian assists in distribution of food boxes to beneficiaries of the Barangay-Based Feeding Program in Polo Activity Center, Feb. 15, 2014. |
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Caption 
A new feeding program by the Valenzuela City local government promotes not only children’s health but that of their mothers as well.
Launched this weekend, February 15 and 16, the Barangay-based Feeding Program (BBFP) aims to combat malnutrition among children in the city aged six months to five years by regularly providing them with nutritious, ready-to-cook food.
The BBFP has selected 3,538 children from poor families to receive food packages that are appropriate for their age and health status, to be rationed at the barangay health stations every two weeks for three years.
An underweight child aged six months to two years may receive a two 100-gram packs of champorado, two 24-gram packs of squash and malunggay soup, two 100-gram packs of chicken soup, two 100-gram packs of beef soup, and two 24-gram packs of banana-and-oats meal. This supply is good for two weeks.
Nutrition Program Coordinator Ms. Winona Villanueva said, “The age period, six months to five years, is very crucial in the child’s growth and development. The adverse effects of malnutrition incurred during this period are often irreversible. Most malnourished children grow stunted and find it difficult to learn their lessons in school.”
BBFP children will also go to playschool sessions conducted by barangay health workers who have been trained by international children’s welfare organization Save the Children.
For children to remain in the program, parents will have to fulfill some conditions.
BBFP Action Officer Janina Bautista said a parent must regularly bring her child to the barangay health station for weighing, check-up and vaccination. Pregnant mothers would also have to go to prenatal check-ups and give birth in a health facility.
City Mayor REX Gatchalian shared, “We consider mothers as the frontliners of the BBFP. Whether the children will be fed well or not largely depends on their mothers. So we make it a point that the BBFP takes care of the mothers as well.”
The BBFP is the third feeding program by the local government, along with the K-to-6 Citywide Feeding Program, for underweight children in kindergarten and elementary school; and the 120-Day Supplemental Feeding Program, for all day care children.
Results of the Community-based Monitoring System (CBMS) by the local government in 2012 show 2.6 per cent of children aged below five years old in the city are underweight, around 10 times lower than the regional average of 20.7 per cent.
The local government has allotted PhP 73,500,000 for 2013 to 2015 to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, the first of the eight Millennium Development Goals.
Health care and social services is one the local government’s “Five Pillars of Good Governance”, or the priority areas of development, along with job generation, housing, education, trade and industry.
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