Even the government is riding on the food home delivery bandwagon as part of its efforts to provide adequate nourishment for the country’s most vulnerable sectors.
This was revealed by Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles, who on Tuesday provided updates on the government’s food assistance initiatives for undernourished Filipino school-aged children, who will continue to receive food packs from the government amid Covid-19 prevention measures that disallow face-to-face classes.
According to Nograles, the government has a supplemental feeding program under DepEd and DSWD for children from Kinder to Grade 6 and daycare children, respectively.
Nograles, who chairs the government’s Zero Hunger Task Force, said that the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) would adopt the same modality for the delivery of food subsidies under their respective feeding programs.
“My concern as Zero Hunger Task Force Chair, even as we open up the economy and get people back to work, there are still vulnerable sectors: those who cannot work. Obviously, yan ang mga bata,” said the Palace official.
According to Nograles, the government has a supplemental feeding program under DepEd and DSWD for children from Kinder to Grade 6 and daycare children, respectively.
The Davao native said that “with the start of classes, their supplemental feeding program can start; we will be distributing nutritious food products house to house kasi wala munang face to face classes.”
For younger children, the DSWD conducts supplemental feeding in their supervised neighborhood play and child development center programs.
“Both programs, they have a supplemental feeding program, and it’s also going to be house to house distribution to be conducted by child development workers, supervised neighborhood play workers, and other barangay volunteers.”
The food packs to be distributed, said the former lawmaker, were developed by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) – Food and Nutrition Research Institute (DOST-FNRI).
“My concern as Zero Hunger Task Force Chair, even as we open up the economy and get people back to work, there are still vulnerable sectors: those who cannot work. Obviously, yan ang mga bata.”
These include hot meals, distribution of nutrient-dense food such Nutripacks, Nutribuns, fresh milk, milk products, micronutrient packs, iron-fortified rice, and easy to cook alternative meals.
These programs will complement the dietary supplementary program for children 6 to 23 months old and nutritionally-at-risk pregnant women recently approved by the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF).
Government recognizes the need to step up these programs as recent joblessness and hunger surveys indicate a correlation between unemployment and involuntary hunger.
Nograles said the data from the surveys show that “hunger is really correlated to jobs; the more we can provide jobs, the less hunger.”
The Cabinet Secretary stressed that even with joblessness figures going down, government needs to intervene to ensure that vulnerable sectors such as children are provided with adequate nourishment in order to prevent health issues like stunting and wasting––problems that have an impact on the long-term development of children.
“We cannot afford a stunted future; we must feed the future, we must save the children from malnutrition––by saving a generation, we are saving our country.”