Blueplate's Inang Busog, Batang Malusog Feeding Program

The Blueplate Inang Busog, Batang Malusog (IBBM) Feeding Program was launched in 2019. IBBM caters to young pregnant women and mothers in Barangay Commonwealth, aiming to provide the beneficiaries and their families with nutritious meals during the first 1,000 days of the new baby.

The program has the following components:

• Strong partnership with the Community Health Center to make sure that the pregnant women go through regular pre-natal care and the children have pediatric care,

• Providing daily meal packs (good for 4 persons) to the pregnant women,

• Support system for the pregnant women and young mothers through sessions on motherhood, child-care, etc. as well as group activities, and

• Token for the mother and child (e.g., Mother and Child kit) when a child is born to emphasize value and appreciation for life.

ACED started to pilot a Program for the First 1000 days in the Commonwealth area in Quezon City where Ateneo has built a kitchen. The program was coordinated with the Barangay Commonwealth chairperson, Mr. Manuel Co, and the Quezon City Health Officer Dr. Verdades Linga.

Since the program started, cooked food was distributed to the beneficiaries on a regular basis. Other mother and child items were also distributed to the beneficiaries. Several group activities and sessions were also organized.

The Beginnings of IBBM

In school year 2011-2012, the Blueplate for Better Learning Feeding Program was created. The program provides hot and nutritious lunch meals for more than 18,000 malnourished public elementary school children for 130 school days each school year.

With the success of the Blueplate operations came the realization that the malnutrition problem extends beyond the public elementary school level. ACED created the ASUL Club or A-list Students United in Learning Club to complement the Blueplate for Better Learning Feeding Program in public secondary schools. The ASUL Club aims to address malnutrition among its student-members and promote their holistic development. Aside from receiving one hot and nutritious meal each day, selected Grade 7 beneficiaries also take part in various enrichment activities that help them cope and perform well in school.

According to Fr. Bienvenido Nebres, former president of the Ateneo de Manila University, “we really have to attend to the problem of malnutrition. A year or two of delayed education can be repaired, but a damaged brain of a child because of malnutrition can no longer be repaired”. By the time the children get to Kindergarten or Grade 1, they are already stunted and severely malnourished and their brains would already have been seriously affected by the hunger and malnutrition they have gone through early in life. An earlier intervention is needed. The IBBM was thus launched as an extension and complementary intervention of the Blueplage for Better Learning Feeding Program and the ASUL Club.