April 8, 2016. The Garantisadong Pambata (GP) of the Department of Health Region X commences this week with the theme “Kalusugan ng Bata ay Sigurado, basta i-GP Mo!”. GP is a national strategy supporting Micronutrient Supplementation to reduce childhood illnesses and deaths by promoting positive child care behaviors.

The National Nutrition Council links GP to the First 1000 Days of the Child as GP is part of the critical interventions during this window of opportunity for the child’s optimum growth and development.

The National Nutrition Council (NNC) announces the theme for this year’s Nutrition Month celebration in July which is “First 1000 Days ni baby pahalagahan para sa malusog na kinabukasan.”  The theme focuses on the first 1000 days of life starting from conception and before the second birthday of the child.  It is during this period when growth faltering happens.  Many studies have shown a link between undernutrition, especially stunting, in the first years of life and overnutrition in the later years. Thus, the First 1000 Days has been called the “golden window of opportunity” for a comprehensive package of nutrition and related interventions to achieve significant changes in reduction in child stunting, underweight and wasting, at the same time contribute to complete child development.

GP also focuses on:

-          Public health interventions including skilled attendance during pregnancy, delivery, and immediate post-partum

-          Importance of breastfeeding and complementary feeding to care for the newborn

-          Micronutrient supplementation (Iron, Vitamin A and Iodine) and deworming. Vitamin A supplementation plays an                        important role in vision and bone growth and helps the immune system to fight infections.

-          Immunization of children (Baccilli, Calmett, and Guerin or BCG, Oral Polio or OPV, Diphtheria, Pertussis and Tetanus or               DPT)

-          Immunization of mothers

-          Promotion of child positive caregiving behaviors (exclusive breastfeeding of infants from 0-6 months, feeding infants of              micronutrient rich complementary foods starting 6 months old, use of iodized salt, buying and eating of fortified foods,               brushing of teeth properly and regularly, letting children play safe toys, no smoking in front of kids)

-          Integrated management of sick children

-          Birth spacing

-          Environmental sanitation

GP is implemented in all health centers, municipal health offices, barangay health stations, and government hospitals. In some provinces, health workers are making house-to-house calls and visits. NNCX_mdmn_4.8.16