If you’ve ever wondered whether that donation you made on your last Cebu Pacific flight was put to good use, the answer is a resounding yes, according to UNICEF’s Second Progress Report on its First 1,000 Days program in the Philippines.
The program focuses on providing children with proper nutrition in their first 1,000 days of life, a critical stage in their overall development. The goal is to prevent stunting and micronutrient deficiencies in Filipino children. Locally, the program is supported by donations collected on Cebu Pacific flights. Known as “Change for Good,” this global fundraising campaign was initiated by UNICEF in 1987. Since that time, Change For Good has raised more than $160 million worldwide. Cebu Pacific is the first and only airline in Southeast Asia to join this global initiative.
Through its donations, which broke the US$1 million barrier in May, Cebu Pacific has played a role in supporting the government’s health and nutrition programs. The results of the Expanded National Nutrition Survey, which were released in June 2019, already show signs of improvement in children’s health. According to the latest UNICEF progress report, stunting among children below 5 years old decreased from 33.4% in 2015 to 30.3% in 2018; for wasting (defined as having low weight in comparison to one’s height) among children below 5 years old, the report claims “the ENNS result of 5.6% surpassed the 2018 target of 6.2%.”
Cebu Pacific’s partnership with Unicef primarily supported nutrition programs in the municipalities of Bobon and Mapanas in Northern Samar, and extended to Basud, Capalonga, and Mercedes in Camarines Norte; and Leon Postigo and Jose Dalman in Zamboanga Del Norte.
Due to the high rates of malnutrition and water-borne diseases in Bobon and Mapanas, the Change for Good funds were earmarked for a Joint Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) and Nutrition Project, JWNP for short. Under the JWNP were several initiatives which included training food handlers in basic food safety in compliance with the Sanitation Code of the Philippines; Operation Timbang+, which sought to survey the nutritional status of children up to 5 years old in the two barangays; Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) and First 1000 Days counseling; Micronutrient Supplementation and Garantisadong Pambata, to prevent micronutrient deficiency in mothers and children; and the Management of Severe Acute Malnutrition.
The Cebu Pacific team visits a community in Bobon, Northern Samar.
Among the most encouraging developments of the JWNP programs was the significant decrease in Severe Acute Malnutrition cases in both Bobon and Mapanas. According to the Unicef report, in Bobon the percentage of underweight preschoolers decreased from 3.1% in 2017 to 1.5% as of June 2019. In Mapanas, this same metric decreased from 32% in 2017 to 14% as of 2019. In the case of wasting, Bobon saw a decrease from 13% in 2017 to 5% in 2019. In Mapanas, the figure of 37% in 2018 was reduced to 26% in 2019.
While there is still much work to be done, all signs point to a better and healthier future for young children in the Philippines. Thanks to the generosity of Cebu Pacific passengers, it’s a positive change that we can count on—it is indeed change for good.
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