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BACKGROUND

 In the Philippinesand in the world,millions of neonates,children and adolescents still die of preventable diseases, malnutrition and extreme hunger. One in 3 Filipino children under 5 years old is stunted and roughly 7% are too thin for their height.

Climate change, COVID-19 and conflict have exacerbated the situation underscoring the complex links between poverty, health and economic development.Breakingthiscycleinvolvesworkingacrossvariousprogramsnot just onhealthand nutrition,but also,education,livelihoods and protection.

 With the help of donors, including those that donate via GlobalGiving, SavetheChildren Philippines has been able to provide a healthy start in life to optimize a child’s development potential. This is critical for children’s long–term health and well-being and educational, social and economic outcomes as adults.

Our Recent Accomplishments

 Save the Children has been training community leaders in mobilizing and enrolling parents / caregivers with children who were wasted, stunted or nutritionally at-risk. We are proud that through our efforts, we have been able to increase awareness and understanding of close to 400 participants on important health and nutrition concepts and practices, children’s rights and positive parenting and they are now putting it into practice.

In Samar, our interventions to address malnutrition led to the recovery of 63% of those diagnosed as wasted and nutritionally at-risk.

A research using clustered and randomized control trial to test interventions on face-to-face parenting training on Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) among pregnant women covering 6 municipalities in Samar is ongoing. This involves a total of 500 pregnant women, 250 each for the control and intervention groups.The baseline study showed that the current level of knowledge on IYCF is average. The intervention began in October 2022 and will end in February 2024. Follow-up visits are conducted by the barangay health workers, barangay nutrition scholars and the Municipal Nutrition Action Officer.

 In Mindanao, Bajau children and their families benefitted from Positive Deviance Hearth, a training program to rehabilitate underweight and wasted children without the need for medical interventions and to prevent future cases of malnutrition, and community kitchens. Food baskets with rice, sugar, eggs, water and other basic commodities were also distributed among 207 households. Out of 12 children with moderate acute malnutrition, 2 (17%) fullyrecovered, 9 (75%) showed slight improvement and will still need close follow-up, and 1 will bereferred for supplementation. Out of 9 pregnant and lactating women (PLW) who were nutritionally at risk, 8 (89%) showed slight improvement. Children and PLW with slight improvement require continuous monitoring.

Socio-behaviouralchange communication(SBCC) tools such as the Mid-Upper Arm Circumference (MUAC) tape,body mass index (BMI) calculator and childl ength mat were introduced to community volunteers, barangay health workers and to parents/ caregivers with children 0-59 months who are stunted, wasted and nutritionally-at-risk including pregnant and lactating mothers.These enabled them to take part in monitoring their children’s health such as measuring and recording health indicators instead of just being recipients of services. It empowered them to help in the early detection and referral of severe acute malnutrition (SAM) and moderate acute malnutrition (MAM) to the health facilities for immediate action.