| Written by Remai Alejado, Zamboanga del Sur Press Bureau,
on 13-02-2008 13:17
|
Views : 313  |
Favoured : 8 |
Published in : The News, News Around the Region |
Tags : national dairy authority, nda, milk-feeding, labangan, aurora, sominot, midsalip, guipos, san pablo, pitogo, lapuyan, vincenzo sagun, margostaubig, tigbao, lakewood, bayog, josefina, mahayag, aurora, midsalip, tukuran, tigbao, lakewood, san pablo, dimataling, pitogo |
Recognizing malnutrition as one of the social problems besetting the country, the provincial government of Zamboanga del Sur with 14 municipal governments in cooperation with the National Dairy Authority (NDA) is now implementing for the second time the milk-feeding program since the three parties signed a Memorandum of Agreement in 2005.
The milk-feeding program is an instrument of rehabilitating the malnourished children that the province focused on the Below Normal-Very Low (BNVL) children. Phase 1 was in 2005-2006 participated by only 13 municipalities, namely: Labangan; Aurora; Sominot; Midsalip; Guipos; San Pablo; Pitogo; Lapuyan; Vincenzo Sagun; Margosatubig; Tigbao; Lakewood; and Bayog with a total of 2,050 beneficiaries - 1,000 pre-schoolers and 1,050 school children. For phase 2 which covers 2007 and 2008, the milk-feeding program is participated by 14 municipalities. This time, it focused on the 2,512 pre-schoolers. For 120 days, each day, except Saturdays and Sundays, the beneficiaries are given 180ml of steriliezed chocolate milk in pouch supplied by the Federation of Davao Dairy Farmers’ Corporation (FEDDAFC) based in Davao City. According to Estrella Esma, Provincial Nutrition Action Officer BNVL are determined based on the “Operation Timbang” report given by the 14 participating municipalities, as follows:124 from Josefina, 156 (Mahayag), 252 (Aurora), 202 (Midsalip), 122 (Tukuran), 184 (Tigbao), 184 (Lakewood), 164 (San Pablo), 308 (Vincenzo Sagun), 200 (Margosatubig), 94 (Dinas), 180 (Dimataling), 202 (Pitogo), and 140 (Lapuyan). The NDA is funding for the 1,256 or half of the total beneficiaries whose total cost is P1,431,840. The provincial government shells out P242,820 for the 213 pre-schoolers while the 14 LGUs have to give their counterparts for the remaining 1,043 beneficiaries which equivalent to P1,189,020.Under the program, as the milk-feeding is going on, beneficiaries are also dewormed. As to the evaluation whether beneficiaries’ nourishment have rehabilitated, improved or not their malnourished condition will be done three month from the start of the actual feeding, Esma said.
In the 2005-2006, milk-feeding only lasted for 60 days. Rresult showed that of the 1,000 pre-schooler-beneficiaries, 50.6% were rehabilitated, 40.6% improved and 8.1% had not improved at all. For the School Children (in grade school) statistics said that of 1,050 beneficiaries, 77.3% were rehabilitated, 21.2% improved and 1.4% never improved. Significantly, most of the beneficiaries gained weight at a maximum increase 4 kilos and .09 was the minimum. Last update : 13-02-2008 13:20
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