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- Category: Region 9
Continued breastfeeding for two years or longer helps a child to develop and grow strong and healthy. However, when the child reached 6 months breast milk alone is no longer sufficient to meet the child’s nutritional needs and therefore complementary foods are needed for a growing child in addition to breastmilk. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines complementary feeding as giving of additional foods or liquid starting at 6 months because breast milk alone is no longer sufficient to meet the nutritional requirements of infants.
As the child gets older, they need more food to have more energy to grow and be active. According to WHO, six months of age is a good time to start giving complementary foods. This is the age where babies are more attracted to complementary foods because they already show interest when they see other people eating and reach for food, put things in their mouth and can already control their tongue better to move food around their mouth. Before preparing complementary foods for babies, mothers and their family members must know the ways to enrich the baby’s foods. Here are some ways to enrich the baby’s food:
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- Category: Region 9
Pursuant to Proclamation No. 40, yearly, every month of August is celebrated as the National Sight Saving Month in the Philippines. This celebration aims to spread public awareness on the importance of proper eye care to prevent eye diseases and to encourage the nation to be aware of the available means in restoring the lost eyesight and the value of organ donation.
Among the five senses that a human being has, so far the most important organs are the eyes. About 80% of what a person perceives comes from the sense of sight. It is also believed that, if other senses such as the sense of taste or smell stop working, it’s your eyes that will best protect you from danger. Your eyes, similar to the other parts of your body, are also subject to stress and injury and might possibly lose their ability if not properly taken cared of. By protecting your eyes, you will reduce the chance of having vision loss and other developing eye diseases such as cataracts and glaucoma.
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World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) is a global campaign to raise awareness and initiate action on themes related to breastfeeding. For this year, the theme “Support breastfeeding for a healthier planet” focuses on the impact of infant feeding on the environment/climate change and the imperative to protect, promote and support breastfeeding for the health of the planet and its people.
In the joint message given by UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta H. Fore and WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, they are calling on governments to protect and promote women’s access to skilled breastfeeding counselling, which is a critical component of breastfeeding support. The agencies noted that skilled counselling services can ensure mothers and families receive this support, along with the information, advice, and reassurance they need to nourish their babies in the best way.
Breastfeeding provides health and nutritional benefits to both children and mothers. In fact, top officials of UNICEF and WHO emphasized that exclusive breastfeeding could save more lives and generate additional income. During this COVID-19 pandemic, it is more important to show encouragement and give support to the mothers. Counselling can empower women to overcome challenges and prevent feeding and care practices that may interfere with optimal breastfeeding.
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- Category: Region 9
Asthma is a respiratory condition that impacts all people differently. This chronic lung disorder causes the airways to become inflamed and produce lots of thick mucus. A person with asthma experiences its symptoms such as coughing, wheezing, chest tightness and shortness of breath. Asthma is so common that everyone probably knows someone with this condition. For a child who suffers from asthma early in life tend to miss the chance to play a lot with their friends or participate in certain activities especially on sports. While growing up with this condition, some may even need to miss school or work since many asthmatics have only limited physical activities. In fact, the Philippines ranked 14th in the world in asthma mortality with 12, 479 or 2.05% total deaths based from the latest data of the World Health Organization (WHO) published in 2018. Thus, in order to create awareness and enhance the consciousness of the populace as well as help people cope with having asthma, yearly every 2nd week of August is celebrated as National Asthma Week by virtue of Proclamation No. 442 series of 1994.
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Health comes first. This is the slogan of every hospital and health workers since for them, the health and well-being of the patients and people in the community are the top priorities. Now more than ever, especially during this pandemic, hospitals serve as the primary care that play a significant role in the COVID-19 response. They are responsible in differentiating patients with respiratory symptoms from those with COVID-19, diagnosing and treating patients affected and even helping the vulnerable people cope with anxiety and stress about the virus. Thus, every 6-12 of August every year is observed as National Hospital Week by virtue of Proclamation No. 181 signed by former President Fidel V. Ramos to highlight the roles of hospitals in nation building and to focus on the ways they are supporting the needs of their community members during this pandemic.
Hospitals and health workers are considered to be the heroes even before the pandemic occurred. As primary health care, they are the important foundation during emergency situations such as Dengue, Polio, SARS, MERS-COV, other epidemics and now, the COVID-19 as well. Amongst their many responsibilities during this pandemic include diagnosing patients, providing safe emergency and comprehensive care, monitoring and following up on suspected and mild cases ensuring that they are fully healed before leaving the hospital premises. But behind these responsibilities, hospital staffs and health workers are also facing many struggles during this COVID-19 battle. They need to endure being away from their family and loved ones, the long working hours, fatigue, physical and psychological violence and the stigma.
Read more: Highlighting the roles of hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic
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Every cell in the body needs oxygen in order to live. To supply the oxygen, the lungs take oxygen from the environment and transfer it to the bloodstream. From there, it circulates to the rest of the body. Lung diseases, especially pneumonia and tuberculosis continue to take the lives of many people. Thus, the public should be aware that lung diseases are actually preventable with proper knowledge and interventions. Hence, Former President Ferdinand E. Marcos declared the month of August as National Lung Month by virtue of Proclamation No. 1761, series of 1978 to increase public awareness of these diseases.
Lungs are a pair of roughly conical in shape organs that are located in the chest, behind the ribcage on either side of the heart. Lung disease is one of the most common medical condition worldwide. According to the latest World Health Organization (WHO) data published in 2018, lung disease deaths in Philippines reached 25,236 or 4.14% of total deaths. The age adjusted death rate is 45.61 per 100,000 of population ranks the Philippines number 16th in lung disease deaths in the world. These lung diseases that need to be avoided include, asthma, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), lung cancer, infections like influenza, pneumonia and tuberculosis, and many other breathing problems. Some can even lead to respiratory failure that causes death.
