COTABATO CITY — In line with the Nutrition Month celebration and in response to addressing cases of malnutrition in the Bangsamoro Region, the Ministry of Social Services and Development (MSSD) through the Supplementary Feeding Program (SFP) officially started the distribution of the first batch of dry rations on July 15-21, 2021 in Maguindanao.
As of today, 22 July 2021, a total of 13,202 children between 2-4 years old have received SFP’s food items in Maguindanao wherein 2,710 from North Upi, 2,285 from Sultan Kudarat, 1,846 from Parang, 952 from Matanog, 823 from Sultan Mastura, 801 from Northern Kabuntalan, 772 from Pagalungan, 720 from Barira, 615 from Guindulungan, 585 from Datu Blah, 572 from Buldon, and 521 from Datu Montawal.
Each child beneficiary received 1 sack of 25 kilos of rice, ½ kilos of dilis or dried anchovies, 1 and ½ kilos of carrots, and 1 and ¾ kilos of monggo or mung beans.
MSSD’s SFP aims to reach 79,269 children beneficiaries across the Bangsamoro region in the coming weeks wherein 30,831 from Maguindanao, 11,200 from Lanao del Sur A, 11,358 from Lanao del Sur B, 1,851 from Marawi City, 4,753 from Basilan, 9,620 from Sulu, and
9,656 from Tawi-Tawi.
SFP is a nationally-funded social protection program implemented by MSSD in the Bangsamoro Region as part of the Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) of the government through the provision of food items to augment the children’s regular meals for 120 days.
The feeding program will be managed by parents and child development workers.
SFP aims to intensify nutrition and health education for children, parents, and child development workers to improve and sustain the nutritional status of the target children-beneficiaries.
SFP caters to the following target beneficiaries as 3 to 4 years old children enrolled in Child Development Centers (CDC), 2 to 5 years old children under Supervised Neighborhood Play (SNP), and children up to 5 years old who are not enrolled in the pre-schools of the Ministry of Basic, Higher, and Technical Education (MBHTE).
During the pandemic, the implementation of the SFP has shifted from serving hot meals in the CDCs to delivering dry rations to the households, wherein parents will prepare the meals at home.
The children-beneficiaries will be weighed at the beginning of the feeding program, and their weights will be monitored monthly until the completion of 120 days to determine the progress of the children’s nutritional status. (Jidday Lucman, MSSD BARMM)