DAVAO CITY—The City Nutrition Council aims to end malnutrition in Davao through the Community Integrated Management of Acute Malnutrition that was first implemented in 2013.
Davao is the first and the only city in the country that applies the Cimam “in a non-emergency status,” city nutrition council head Vangie Ginite said.
The program has reached Davao’s goal to cure all malnourished children in the city, Ginite said, adding that most other cities—and even countries —only implement Cimam during disasters or war.
“This started during the time of then-Mayor Rodrigo Duterte. It materialized since he wanted to end malnutrition,” she said.
Nine severely malnourished children in the city were identified during the first year of the program, Ginite said. The kids turned healthy after just three months through the program.
From January to June 2016, the city enrolled 176 malnourished children, and 65 percent of them were cured in two to three months, Ginite said.
“We want to end malnutrition, that is why we were doing our best to feed those malnourished kids. We want to give this kids a better future ahead of them,” she said.
The city partnered with Unicef to obtain Ready to Use Therapeutic Food that helps children gain their lost nutrition. Through the partnership, the city saved P4 million out of its P6.5-million budget for the Cimam released by Duterte in 2014.
“The budget was intended to purchase the RUTF packs, but since the UNICEF gave it to us for free, we have saved the money and was it used in the other things that the program needs. For now, we have complete equipment like weighing machines in all our centers,” Ginite said.
Last September, the Department of Health adopted the program and produced RUTF packs for severely malnourished children in the entire country.
Ginite said even New York City has recognized the CIMAM program of Davao, and some countries have adopted it as their regular anti-malnutrition program.