445,850 school kids benefit from rice distribution program
The National Nutrition Council (NNC) reported recently that 445,850 or 99.9 percent of 445,858 of the identified school children in selected areas of the country have benefited from the government's Summer Rice Distribution Program conducted from April to June.
In the recent meeting of the inter-agency Social Development Committee (SDC) - Technical Board of the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) Board, NNC Officer-in-Charge Maria Bernardita Flores noted that the successful implementation of the program h elped reduce hunger incidence in the country.
The Social Weather Station (SWS) survey indicated that hunger incidence in the country decreased to 13.9 percent in the second quarter of 2006 from 16.9 percent in March.
The Summer Rice Distribution Program is part of the Food for School Program (FSP) which aims to provide rice to families who suffer from severe hunger and encourages students to attend school by distributing the rice provisions to daycare, pre-elementary and Grade 1 pupils.
The FSP in turn is part of the government's Hunger Mitigation Program which was launched after an SWS survey showed that hunger reached 16.9 percent in March this year indicating an increase in hunger incidence from 16.7 percent in December 2005.
Flores said at the meeting that the NNC's monitoring report of the Summer Rice Distribution Program found that 94 percent of the target beneficiaries said the program improved and/or maintained their nutritional status.
Flores explained the result also showed that through the program, 89.6 percent of target beneficiaries gained additional food for the family, 62.1 percent missed less school days, 44.4 percent gained weight, 33.7 percent did not miss meals during the three months of the program and 20.1 percent enhanced their knowledge on nutrition.
(PIA)