THE Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) will roll out this month its Supplemental Feeding Program targeting 1.5 million preschoolers, DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian announced Tuesday.
The program, which will feed wards of child development centers and supervised neighborhood playgrounds, aims to enhance the health of children aged 2-5 for 120 days.
The DSWD noted that undernutrition remains one of the main problems of the country, with stunted growth common among the children, specifically those in the underprivileged sector.
According to UNICEF, 3.6 million Filipino children aged five and below are underweight, while about four million suffer from stunted growth.
“The President’s instruction is to ensure that children enrolled in child development centers have adequate food and nutrition, Hence, for 2025, our supplemental feeding program will kick off,” Gatchalian said.
"We have available funds for that, about P5.1 billion. More or less, some 1.6 million children in child development centers will be feed daily for 120 days. These are hot meals prepared by the centers or the local government units,” he added.
The cost of the hot meals will be increased from P15 to P25 apiece to ensure that children get proper nutrition, Gatchalian said.
“On top of that, those classified as undernourished will receive fresh milk costing about P22 per child,” he added.
The secretary also pointed out that aside from the children, local farmers would also benefit from the program because the food would be sourced from their farm outputs.
