Send 200 Filipino kids to better daycare centers

The Philippines' Department of Health recently announced their growing concerns about the increasing number of cases of pertussis (more commonly known as whooping cough) in the first quarter of 2024. Pertussis is a highly contagious bacterial respiratory infection that causes fever, colds, and coughing that last for seven to 10 days. While anyone can catch it, children prove to be the most vulnerable to the disease.

The higher than usual numbers, paired with several recorded pertussis casualties, have prompted a Metro Manila city to declare a whooping cough outbreak. With the Department of Health predicting that more cities and provinces would follow suit soon, they have strongly urged parents to get the necessary vaccinations for their children while practicing proper respiratory hygiene and good grooming.

Having said this, the efforts and activities of our simple Daycare Improvement Project to ensure that poor daycare students have complete health and hygiene kits proved to be timely. Through your continued trust and support, HBI was able to provide 250 young learners from Tanza 1, Tanza 2, and Dampalit Daycare Centers with complete hygiene kits and supplies of multivitamins in the last week of February 2024. These daycare centers are located in the indigent communities of Navotas City - an urban fishing city where respiratory diseases are rampant. As such, apart from the actual distribution of health kits, the Daycare Improvement Project also conducted several children's seminar on good grooming and proper hygiene. This was done with the help of the daycare teachers and representatives from the local community health centers.  

HBI believes that the hygiene kits that your donations have made possible can significantly help in preventing cases of communicable diseases like pertussis among young learners by promoting good hygiene practices. Proper handwashing, as encouraged by the hygiene kits, reduces the spread of bacteria that causes whooping cough, contributing to a healthier environment and lower transmission rates among schooling children.

On the other hand, the multivitamins that HBI was able to distribute to the children because of your support can indirectly help prevent cases of whooping cough and other communicable illnesses as they boost the children's immune systems. While multivitamins themselves don't directly target pertussis, they support overall health, making children less susceptible to infections, including respiratory illnesses like whooping cough.

As cases of pertussis continue to rise, HBI through your support will continue trying to help more daycare learners with their health needs. In addition to this, seminars for both children and parents about the importance of vaccinations, immunizations, and vitamin supplementation are also being planned. 

In closing, we would like to say our most heartfelt and fervent thanks to all of you who have donated to the Daycare Improvement Project. We started off only targetting 200 daycare students, and so far, we have reached more than 1,200 children not only in the La Union province but also in the most marginalized areas in Metro Manila. You have made this possible, and we hope that together, we can continue making significant improvements to enhance education and health services in the public daycare centers we strive to help for the benefit of their young learners.