The Dumaguete City government has allocated PHP2.1 million to provide pre-school children, and pregnant and lactating mothers with fortified and nutritious food and fresh milk, an official said Thursday.
In an interview, City Nutrition Officer Delia Serion said the fresh milk-feeding program will commence next week, overlapping with the ongoing fortified food program that is currently benefitting hundreds of recipients.
She said that under the twin programs, pre-school children, pregnant and lactating women are provided with hot meals prepared and cooked by the mothers and barangay nutrition workers, as well as fortified food packs.
“Raw ingredients are provided to them every week so they can prepare the hot meals themselves and distribute these to the recipients in their respective barangays. But this is just supplementary on top of their regular meals in their households,” Serion told the Philippine News Agency.
The feeding runs for at least four months each with the budget allocation taken from the city’s Gender and Development funds intended for beneficiaries who are underweight, wasted, stunted, and micro-deficient pre-school children, and nutritionally at-risk pregnant and lactating mothers.
Part of the food distributed are nutri-buns fortified with vitamins and minerals and other fortified foods purchased from the Nutrition Center of the Philippines.
The fresh milk will be provided by a local supplier from Tanjay City, Negros Oriental and will be distributed to the beneficiaries three times a week.
Each beneficiary will be given a 357 ml bottle of fresh cow’s milk every feeding day, Serion said.
She said the beneficiaries include 87 pregnant and lactating women, 134 pre-school children (6-59 months old) for complementary feeding, and 187 for supplementary feeding (25 to 59 months old).
For the fresh milk-feeding program, children below 59 months old are excluded.
Serion said the city government has adopted these interventions, including the hiring of 50 barangay nutrition workers, to combat malnutrition in the city. (PNA)