MANY popular medical associations define a “baby” as the age of a child from birth to four years old.
I am inclined to accept that definition, because at the end of four years, the “baby” would be about 1,460 days old, which is close to the window of 1,000 days that is said to be the most vulnerable period when he or she could become a victim of stunting due to malnutrition.
In reality, there could still be a “grace” period wherein a baby could still recover from, or get healed from stunting even after his or her first 1,000 days, hence the extra 460 days “allowance” would be convenient, at least the way I see it.
The fact is, some experts believe that this countdown could even be as long as five years old, thus giving the “allowance” of an extra 365 days.
Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) Health Committee chairperson Ms. Raquel Cagurangan has suggested that the anti-stunting campaign should be aligned with the “Konsulta Package” of PhilHealth, and she is absolutely correct, because after all, the mothers of these babies are already qualified to avail of this package, and that would enable the participating clinics to be paid for their services.
To add to the suggestion of Ms. Cagurangan, I also suggest that the campaign should also be aligned with the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), because that program already requires both mother and child to seek medical care.
That said, all that is needed now is more active coordination and collaboration between PhilHealth and DSWD. How could that be done?
Fortunately, the Hospital on Wheels (HOW) project of Dr. Jim Sanchez is already existing, and it has been conducting combined surgical, medical, optical and dental missions for many years now.
The good news is, Dr. Sanchez has already agreed to invite the MAP to the field missions of HOW, so that MAP could add the anti-stunting services to its other services, combining the PhilHealth and the DSWD services as well.
If you want to help, just join the Movement Against Malnutrition and Stunting (MAMAS) Messenger group in Facebook./PN
