Garantisadong Pambata Program

Written by Noel Sto. Domingo

Tuesday, 08 June 2010 21:37

A twice a year program which was started in 1999, Garantisadong Pambata (GP) is the
Department of Health’s (DOH) response to the call of the United Nations Children’s Fund
(UNICEF) to reduce the mortality of children aged five years old and below. The program
provides:

- comprehensive health services

- promotes positive child care behavior, and
- aims to educate the public, especially mothers, on the importance of Vitamin A in children.

Vitamin A plays an important role in vision and bone growth. It also helps the immune system to
fight infections.

Garantisadong Pambata is done twice a year: one week in April and one week in October.

In addition to Vitamin A and iron supplements distributions, Garantisadong Pambata focuses

on:

- public health interventions, including skilled attendance during pregnancy, delivery, and
immediate post partum;
- care of newborn by breastfeeding and complementary feeding;
- micronutrient supplementation and deworming; immunization of children – Baccilli,
Calmett, and Guerin or BCG, Oral Polio or OPV, Diphtheria, Pertussis and Tetanus or DPT;

- immunization of mothers;
- integrated management of sick children;
- child injury prevention and control;
- birth spacing; and
- environmental sanitation.

Garantisadong Pambata is implemented in all health centers, municipal health offices, barangay
health stations, and government hospitals in strategically located areas. In some provinces, the
health workers are making house-to-house calls.

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Garantisadong Pambata Program

Written by Noel Sto. Domingo

Tuesday, 08 June 2010 21:37

Source: http://mb.com.ph/articles/202980/garantisadong-pambata-2009 ; http://www.scribd.co

m/doc/243953/Malnutrition-in-the-Philippines

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