Feeding program served over 2.7M pre-school kids last year – DSWD
OVER 2.7 million children, between ages two and five years old, benefitted from the different community and school-based supplementary feeding programs (SFPs) of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and its partners in 2023.
DSWD assistant secretary and co-spokesperson Irene Dumlao said 1.9 million children benefited from hot and fortified meals for 120 days during school year 2022 to 2023, while an additional 864,998 children were served with nutritious meals nationwide since August 2023.
Dumlao said the DSWD, as part of its contribution to the Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) program of the government and the implementation of Republic Act No. 11037 or the “Masustansyang Pagkain para sa Batang Pilipino” Act, partnered with local government units (LGUs) to implement the SFPs nationwide.
Under the SFP program, nutritious snacks and hot meals were served to children aged 2 to 4 years who are enrolled in supervised neighborhood play (SNP), and children aged 3 to 5 years enrolled in child development centers (CDCs). The meals included indigenous foods or locally produced foods that are equivalent to one-third of the Recommended Energy and Nutrient Intake (RENI) of children.
DSWD also initiated the “Bangsamoro Umpungan sa Nutrisyon (BangUN)” Project in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), which served 18,867 children and 3,133 pregnant and nursing women in the region in 2023.
BangUn is a convergence of services which aims to combat the high incidence of hunger and malnutrition among children in BARMM and provide health support to pregnant and nursing women.
Dumlao said as chair of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Zero Hunger (IATF-ZH), the DSWD will continue to prioritize programs to ensure food security of Filipinos.
“For this year, the Department will continue to strengthen its collaboration with national agencies, LGUs, and development partners to realize the vision of the Marcos administration for a hunger-free Philippines,” she said.
