TUGUEGARAO CITY, Cagayan (PIA) - - Amid the pandemic in which face-to-face classes are prohibited, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) continues to implement its supplementary feeding program for pre-school children in the Cagayan Valley region. 

Delia C. De Guzman, regional technical assistant for nutrition, said through the 'dry ration' mechanism their department has implemented, there are 91, 712 pre schoolers, aged 2 to 5, who are beneficiaries of the supplementary feeding program of the government in the region this year. 

She said the ration, with a total budget of P165.8 million for 11 feeding cycles, include nutribun, nutripack, and other food items with "Sangkap Pinoy Seal". 

For the severely underweight children, De Guzman said they give them hot meals with egg while there were 4, 600 identified wasted and severely underweight preschoolers who were given sterilized milk.

"We [tap] day care teachers to distribute the rations house-to-house and also to monitor the nutritional status of the children," De Guzman said. 

On her part, Ma. Gisela M. Lonzaga, nutrition program coordinator, lauded the efforts of the social welfare department in reaching out to the pre-school children to ensure their nutrition and health amidst the pandemic. 

She also emphasized the need to look into the adequacy of the children's food intake as they are within the critical growth and development stage of life. 

"These children should be(sic) have good nutrition so that they will grow healthy and to be productive citizens later on," Lonzaga said. 

The officials are hopeful that the supplementary feeding program will help decrease malnutrition among pre-school children in the region. (MDCT/OTB/PIA Cagayan)