The City of Malabon passed Ordinance No. 08-2018 “Malabon City First 1000 Days of Life (MC1KD)” with the aim of reducing maternal deaths and malnutrition and improving the quality of life of pregnant women, infants and children in the city. The city ordinance increases fund support for infant and young child feeding (IYCF) program and consolidates health and nutrition programs for mothers and children.
The ordinance also supports the city’s strict implementation of Executive Order (EO) 51 and Republic Act (RA) 10028. EO 51 commonly known as Milk Code restricts the promotion of breastmilk substitute and encourages breastfeeding while RA 10028 or the Expanded Breastfeeding Promotion Act of 2009 provides support for breastfeeding mothers in the workplace.
The city organized a technical working group (TWG) to monitor the implementation of the MC1KD program in 2019. Buntis or pregnancy tracking will be intensified to ensure that all pregnant women will be identified and located especially those who are nutritionally-at-risk and provide them quality health and nutrition services to ensure healthy pregnancy outcomes.
Under the MC1KD program, the city hired Buntis-Chikiting Patrollers or “BuChiPats” and Barangay Nutrition Patrollers (BNPs) who are deployed in all 21 barangays. The BuChiPats and BNPs are responsible in the buntis tracking and referral of pregnant women to health centers. They ensure that the mothers complete their eight (8) pre-natal visits. They also conduct mothers’ classes and nutrition education activities for pregnant women. IYCF implementation is also intensified through the promotion of exclusive breastfeeding from birth up to six (6) months and provision of timely and appropriate complementary feeding to infants starting at 6 months while continuing breastfeeding to prevent child malnutrition.
As of December 2018, Malabon City has 63 BuChiPats and 25 BNPs deployed in all barangays. Prior to their deployment, they received training on Deepening on the First 1000 Days (F1K) of Life sponsored by Save the Children Philippines, and trainings on Basic Course on IYCF and Child Growth Standard (CGS) as well as an Orientation on Micronutrient Supplementation.
Through the BuChiPats and BNPs, all pregnant women and children below 2 years old are expected to be identified and referred to the nearest health center for the F1K package of health and nutrition services. The beneficiaries will be closely monitored through weekly home visits. (TAR/NPC MEVF/NNC-NCR)
Written by: Mr. Fidel Baltazar P. Dela Cruz, Nutritionist-Dietitian II, Malabon City
Mr. Dela Cruz is a member of the Regional Nutrition Writers’ Guild and City/District Nutrition Program Coordinators of Metro Manila Association, Inc.
