More than 1.7 million children, including pregnant women, were provided with nutritious meals to address hunger and malnutrition through the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) Supplementary Feeding Program (SFP) and the Bangsamoro Umpungan sa Nutrisyon (BangUn) Project.

“Under the 14th Cycle of SFP, which covers the school year 2024-2025, a total of 1,751,074 children beneficiaries were provided with meals using indigenous foods and/or locally produced foods, equivalent to 1/3 of the Recommended Energy and Nutrient Intake (RENI),” Assistant Secretary Irene Dumlao said on Friday (January 3).

The SFP provides nutritious snacks and hot meals to augment the regular meals of children aged 2 to 4 years who are enrolled in supervised neighborhood play (SNP), and children aged 3 to 5 years enrolled in child development centers (CDCs).

According to Asst. Secretary Dumlao, who is also the agency’s spokesperson, the DSWD collaborated with local government units (LGUs) nationwide for the implementation of the SFP as part of the agency’s contribution to the Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) program of the government and the Masustansyang Pagkain para sa Batang Pilipino Act also known as Republic Act No. 11037.

Another program of the DSWD is the BangUn Project which aims to address the high incidence of hunger and malnutrition among children in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

Asst. Secretary Dumlao said the BangUn Project also provides health support to pregnant and nursing women.

“For BangUn, we have recorded a total of 22,000 beneficiaries of which, 18,700 are 0 to 12-year-old children and 3,300 are pregnant and lactating women,” the DSWD spokesperson said.