More than 15,000 public school students have benefited from the nutribun feeding program which was revived by the local government of Manila to address the malnutrition problem among children in the city.
Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada last year initiated to bring back the vitamin-enriched bread of the 1970s following reports that at least 7,500 students from Grade 1 to 6 in Manila public schools are severely malnourished.
“Mayor Estrada himself conceptualized this program. He was already a local executive when the nutribun program was first introduced in the country in the 1970s during the Marcos presidency, and he witnessed, first hand, its positive impact,” said Dr. Benjamin Yson, head of the Manila Health Department, in a statement.
International advocacy group Stop Hunger Now has said that 66-million primary school-age children attend classes hungry across the developing world. Of the number, 30 percent go to schools with empty stomachs and not be able to understand the class lectures.
“Our department is now taking a pro-active role in ensuring that the children of Manila are healthy and strong so that they can concentrate on their studies,” said Yson.
Estrada issued Executive Order 50 (An Act creating Committee to Fight Against Hunger Among School Children) in May 2014 recognizing the undernourishment and malnutrition problem affected the psychological, emotional and physical development of schoolchildren.
In compliance with the order, the Manila Health Department subjected the school children to physical examination and later found out that 7,500 of them were malnourished. The program then started July 2014.
“As compared to the previous plain nutribuns, Manila’s version of it is an 88-gram round, dense bread fortified with Vitamins A and C, iron, iodine and calcium, and comes in three different flavor variants—chocolate, raisins and buttermilk; and we even pair it with milk or chocolate drinks in tetra packs. The children were given these nutritious snacks every day for 120 days,” Yson said.
After 120 days, the children were again subjected to physical examination which yielded positive results. It showed that all participants in the program registered improved health condition.
A new batch of 8,000 children in public elementary schools comprise the participant-beneficiaries of the current second phase of the program.