THE Davao City Health Office (CHO) recorded a decrease of severe acute malnutrition (SAM) in the city from 108 children in 2017 down to 21 this year.
In the data shown at the 3rd Stakeholder's Meeting last November 29, at the Grand Men Seng Hotel, there are 108 children ranging from six months to 59 months enrolled in SAM program of the CHO in 2017 and 69 were cured.
CHO chief Doctor Josephine Villafuerte said that in 2018, there are 21 SAM enrolled and two were recorded SAM cured as of January 2018 or a 9.5 percent cure rate.
Villafuerte said that because SAM is defined by a very low weight for height, the program should be continuous or the children who were already cured can become severely malnourished again.
"Ang malnutrition when it affects children, kapag hindi mo yan na manage up to two years old, mahirap na siya ayusin kasi ang brain development na ang hinahabol natin," she said.
She said that the event attended by the nutrition officers and other staff of the city, is to present the years of management of the SAM program and the report on what has been covered.
"This is also showing that we are moving forward and what steps are we taking already," The CHO chief said, adding that they are focusing on the programs for mothers and children.
Villafuerte said that by next year, the CHO will focus on the first 1,000 days of the mother and child.
"The first 1,000 days is the moment na nagbuntis yung nanay to two years old of the child (The first 1,000 days is the moment the woman got pregnant up to two years of the child)," she said.
"Ang first 1,000 days hindi yan dapat pabayaan kasi kung malnourish and nanay, malnourish din ang anak (It should not be neglected because if the mother is malnourish, the child will also be malnourished," she said.
