President Rodrigo Roa Duterte signed on 29 November Republic Act 11148 “An Act Scaling up the National and Local Health and Nutrition Programs through a Strengthened Integrated Strategy for Maternal, Neonatal, Child Health and Nutrition in the First One Thousand (1,000) Days of Life” or otherwise known as the “Kalusugan at Nutrisyon ng Mag-Nanay Act”.

The law strengthens the national and local health and nutrition programs for pregnant and lactating women, adolescent girls, infants and young children in the first 1,000 days. The Act which consolidated Senate Bill No. 1537 “The Healthy Nanay and Bulilit” Act and House Bill No. 5777 “Kalusugan at Nutrisyon ng Mag-Nanay” Act was passed by the Senate and House of Representatives on 17 September 2018 and 19 September 2018 respectively.

“The NNC being the highest policy-making and coordinating body on nutrition aims to deliver quality policies that will better address nutrition problems in the country. The development of the Early Childhood Care and Development in the First 1000 Days Program is an initiative of NNC, integrating all existing services of health, nutrition, social welfare, and education to provide the basic holistic needs of young children.” -Assistant Secretary of Health and Executive Director IV Maria-Bernardita T. Flores, CESO II

The law seeks to refocus interventions for addressing malnutrition among the most nutritionally at risk, prioritizing women of reproductive age, especially adolescent girls, teen-age mothers, pregnant and lactating women and children from birth up to 24 months, to address the health and nutrition problems of these vulnerable groups. The law tasked the Department of Health, the National Nutrition Council (NNC) and its Governing Board members to formulate a strategy that is comprehensive and sustainable.

The law provides for the delivery of the following nutrition and health services and interventions:

 First 270 days of conception and pregnancy: prenatal services at the rural health units and barangay health stations, identification and management of nutritionally-at-risk pregnant women and pregnant adolescents and provision of ready-to-use supplementary food in addition to dietary supplementation, provision of anthelminthic drugs deworming and assessment of risk for parasites; for pregnant women and immediate postpartum period, care at the time of admission at the facility, and monitoring of progress of labor and conditions of both the mother and the fetus, among others; and for postpartum and lactating women, the services include follow-up preventive care visits to health facilities where they gave birth, and home visits for women in difficult to reach communities particularly geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas (GIDA).

 For the next 180 days (0-6 months of the child): provision of continuous support for mother and infants to initiate and complete exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months, including referral to trained health workers on lactation management and treatment of breast conditions; counselling household members on handwashing, environmental sanitation and hygiene; appropriate and timely immunization services integrated with assessment of breastfeeding practice, growth monitoring promotion; infant and young child feeding (IYCF) counselling; and provision of routine newborn care services such as eye prophylaxis and vitamin K, birth doses of Hepatitis B and BCG vaccines after completion of the first breastfeeding.

 For the last 550 days (6 months up to 2 years of the child): health and nutrition services at the community level shall be provided, such as integrated management of childhood illnesses, including the management of moderate and severe acute malnutrition; deworming for children one to two years old; oral health services, including application of fluoride varnish to prevent dental carries; and livelihood assistance for parents of families belonging to the poorest of the poor.

In 2016, the NNC launched the Early Childhood Care and Development in First 1000 Days Program (ECCD F1K Program) and called on stakeholders to support the program to hasten the reduction of malnutrition in the country. For the 3 years of its implementation, the ECCD-F1K program has covered 12 provinces, 59 cities and municipalities targeting more than 200,000 pregnant women and over 200,000 children 0-23 months old. to receive and avail the ECCD-F1K intervention package.

The Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its publication in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation. (Daniel G. Salunga)

Read the full copy of the law here: https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/downloads/2018/11nov/20181129-RA-11148-RRD.pdf