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The proposed “First 1,000 Days” program which aims to support a child from the womb to his second birthday got a P540-million allocation in the Senate’s version of next year’s budget, Senator Grace Poe said Thursday.
The total P539.88-million budget provided for the program is more than double the P200 million initially proposed for the health care initiative, said Poe, author of Senate Bill No. 161, or the proposed First 1,000 Days Act.
Funding was allocated for the program in anticipation of it passing Congress and being enacted by President Rodrigo Duterte in 2018.
“Hiningi natin ang karagdagang pondo sa First 1,000 Days para mas maabot natin ang mga buntis at sanggol, lalo na sa malalayong probinsya,” said Poe.
[We asked for a budget raise for the First 1,000 Days so we could reach more pregnant women and toddlers in far-flung provinces.]
The budget increase is an “important step in improving the nutrition of children, addressing the effects of health deficiencies and covering more beneficiaries,” the senator said.
The senator said her bill would seek to establish a pre-natal and post-natal care program, with emphasis on exclusive breastfeeding, and provides support to a child’s life from conception to the child’s second birthday.
“Various studies have suggested that nutrition interventions targeting the first 1,000 days of life—from the mother’s pregnancy to the second birthday of her child—are the most important as this provides a window of opportunity to an individual’s cognitive and physical growth,” Poe said.
“The First 1,000 Days Program also reduces mortality and morbidity rates and lessens prevalence of stunting and wasting among children,” she added.
Poe thanked Sen. Loren Legarda, chair of the Senate finance committee, for accepting her proposal to raise the budget for First 1,000 Days program. She also urged other senators to support the increase when the bicameral conference committee considers the 2018 appropriation bill. /cbb