The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) yesterday said close to four million school children have benefited from its Supplementary Feeding Program (SFP) from 2021 to 2023.
The feeding program aims to address malnutrition and improve the health of young Filipino children in the country.
It forms part of the government’s Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) Program in line with the requirements of Republic Act No. 11037, or the “Masustansyang Pagkain para sa Batang Pilipino Act.”
Social Welfare Secretary Rex Gatchalian also said the program is in compliance with the directives of President Marcos Jr. in his first state of the nation address (SONA) to ensure the well-being of children.
“As the marching order of the President, the DSWD will ensure that children will continue to enjoy the benefits of nutritious food under the SFP by regularly securing funding for its implementation. This is anchored on the President’s vision of a hunger-free Philippines by 2027,” Gatchalian said.
DSWD data show that for the 2021-2022 school year, 1.99 million children were served nutritious meals, while 1.855 million students were fed during the August 2022 to June 2023 academic year.
Under the SFP, children enrolled in LGU-managed Day Care Centers and Supervised Neighborhood Play are provided food in school, in addition to their regular meals at home. The school meals include indigenous or locally produced foods equivalent to one-third of the children’s Recommended Energy and Nutrient Intake (RENI).
Gatchalian said the DSWD also implemented the Bangsamoro Umpungan sa Nutrisyon (BangUN) Project to combat malnutrition among children and provide health support to pregnant and nursing women in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), which benefitted 18,657 children and 3,343 pregnant and nursing women.
