MORE mothers have become aware of the Quezon City government’s human milk bank and its role in saving the lives of sick and premature babies.
A total of 630 lactating mothers have donated to the human milk bank in the fourth quarter of 2018 from July to September.
In the third quarter from April to June, there have been 560 donors in the third quarter.
On March 23, 2015, Mayor Herbert Bautista ordered the creation of the human milk bank in compliance with the Expanded Breastfeeding Promotion Act of 2009 requiring government and private health-care institutions to set up milk banks.
The mayor has recognized the significant contribution of the social media to popularize the city’s human milk bank program.
“We were able to reach out to donors through our Facebook at Instagram platforms,” human milk bank director Dr. Shahani Duque said.
“There are more walk-in donors, plus the scheduled milk-letting activities by local health of the city and barangays, too. We have a very effective information dissemination this time,” she added.
Meanwhile, the Department of Tourism has commended Bautista for the city government’s vision to be the center of film tourism in the Philippines through its annual QCinema International Film Festival.
Launched by Mayor Bautista and Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte in 2013, QCinema is the city’s official film festival funded by its local government.
“Apart from our local tourist destinations, we trust that initiatives such as the QCinema will boost the leisure and entertainment tourism of the country,” Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said during the festival’s opening night last Sunday at the Gateway Mall, Cubao.
“The QC International Film Festival is the only international film fest in the country and, of course, it is promoting film tourism,” the secretary added.
Puyat stressed that QC is preparing to be one of the world’s film festival destinations, such as the Cannes Film Festival in France, Berlin International Film Festival in Germany, and Tokyo International Film Festival in Japan.
“To our local and international film tourists, I encourage you to watch all the films in this year’s QCinema and make the discovery of art more fun in the Philippines,” Puyat said.
Several international filmmakers included in QCinema 2018 will arrive in the Philippines for open forums after the screening of their respective films.