Child nutrition bill filed to establish national school feeding program

MANILA, Philippines – A proposed child nutrition bill recently filed by Senator Juan Edgardo “Sonny” M. Angara aims to establish a nationwide school feeding program in public elementary schools to reduce the number of underweight children in the country.

If passed, Senate Bill No. 202 or the “Child Nutrition Act of the Philippines” will introduce a school nutrition system that will distribute fortified snacks, milk and vitamin supplements to elementary students in public schools. School entrants will be required to consume these goods 5 times a week, during recess.

In a press release on Saturday, October 19, Angara said the act would help the Philippines reach the millennium development goal for child nutrition and bring down the prevalence of underweight children to 13.6% by 2015.

The lawmaker said that the Department of Education (DepEd) has been implementing school feeding programs, but these are mostly dependent on the budgets of congressmen and senators and donations from the private sector.

According to a 2011 report by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute of the DOST, an estimated 20.2% of Filipino children from 0-6 years old are underweight. (READ: National survey: We have many malnourished children)

“In the long-term, these children are more susceptible to infection and disease, and usually with more serious outcomes due to the effects of malnutrition. Consequently, too, they absent themselves from school more frequently and have lower scholastic performance,” Angara said.

In terms of appropriations, the measure seeks to allocate an initial P100 million for the first year of implementation. The program will later be sustained through annual appropriations of the National Nutrition Council (NNC), while the Department of Education will cover administrative expenses.

The NNC, the DepEd and the Department of Health (DOH) will be responsible for introducing and maintaining the system. The NNC, with the assistance of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), will also be tasked to determine the menu for beneficiaries and to ensure that the foods will meet minimum nutritional requirements.

The bill will provide incentives to encourage agricultural companies, local dairy cooperatives and other private companies to donate to the program. Other proposed provisions include training and orientation for DepEd personnel and for district and school level heads to support program implementation. Educational materials about nutrition information will also be disseminated to students.

Feeding programs to mitigate child malnutrition

Other government agencies have implemented feeding programs for children. In January this year, DepEd in a press release announced a target of more than 42,000 undernourished school children for its School-Based Feeding Program (SBFP), which was implemented from October 2012 to March 2013. The program served meals for 100 to 200 days to selected undernourished school children from kindergarten to Grade 6.

Meanwhile, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) runs a Supplementary Feeding Program (SFP) that provides meals for children in day-care centers aged 3-5 years old. The meals are distributed 5 days a week in 120 days. The government has included the program in relief efforts in Zamboanga.

Child nutrition has been highlighted as an important factor in learning and school peformance. A report by the HEALTHDEV Institute in April said malnourishment can affect a child’s learning abilities. The institute also cited the National Nutritional Status Data for 2010-2011, which showed a 16% malnutrition rate among pre-elementary and elementary Filipino students, or an estimated 2 million out of 13 million school children.

Aside from feeding programs, the DepEd’s Health and Nutrition Centers (HNCs) are supposed to ensure that students are healthy and fit. The HEALTHDEV report, however, said the education department has failed to implement these centers effectively. – Rappler.com