LGUs called to implement first 1k days program

National agencies emphasized the LGU’s role in the implementation of Republic Act (RA) 11148 or the Kalusugan at Nutrisyon ng Mag-Nanay Act.

In a public consultation held at Marco Polo, Davao City on the Draft Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of the said law Azucena Dayanghirang, National Nutrition Council executive director, stressed the importance of a collaborative implementation of national programs on health in communities.

The RA 11148, a landmark legislation signed by President Rodrigo Duterte on November 29, 2018, strengthens the coherence of existing programs on the First 1000 Days, or the day one of a woman’s pregnancy up to the second birthday of the child, which are the early days of a child’s development.

According to Dayanghirang, programs for the first 1000 days of a child had been long existing but the Act institutionalizes the programs of all concerned agencies and ensures that LGUs implement it collaboratively.

“The local government must really implement collaborative and streamline strategies. This means that all families in a community with a mother and a child aged two years old and below must receive all programs mandated under this law,” Dayanghirang said.

Apart from LGUs, the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) will also be part on the implementation of the program.

“We call the DA to promote community food gardens to ensure food production and food security. We also tap the DSWD to ensure that 4Ps beneficiaries use their money for proper nutrition of the mother and child,” Dayanghirang said.

The DA will supply funds for distribution of seeds and seedlings for community food gardens that is seen to help Filipino mothers who are nutritionally at risk.

“More and more mothers are anemic because they lack the necessary iron supplements in their diets. If they only eat the right diet like green leafy vegetables,” she said.

“So, we really emphasize that families must have food gardens. We also encourage families to raise egg-laying animals like chickens relative to our one egg a day program,” she added.

Dayanghirang also mentioned that the collaborative effort to implement the First 1000 Days Program will solve the problem of stunted growth among Filipino children.

“We know for a fact that 33% percent of Filipino children under five years old or roughly four million Filipinos are stunted,” she said.

Dayanghirang further explained that stunting can cause diminished productivity if unmanaged. “Productivity, economic-wise, may be affected if they will grow into stunted adults. Also, mental development may be affected if one is stunted,” she added.

The DOH and the NNC governing board will be the chair and co-chair of the first 1000 days program, and the LGUs will strengthen its implementation such as pre-natal care, immunization, water and sanitation facilities.

By 2022, the implementers will be evaluated on how far “we have reduced the problem of stunting in the Philippines,” Dayanghirang said. (Julianne Suarez)