The City Council of Manila enacted Tuesday, 3 October 2023, Manila’s First 1000 days of Life Ordinance, which is expected to strengthen the city’s nutrition program for the first 1000 days of life, through sustainable health care services for mothers and infants.
The ordinance directs the formulation of a City Nutrition Action Plan, under which various health and nutrition services will be provided to the mother and her child during the first 1,000 days of the latter’s life, starting from conception up to the second birthday, aimed at preventing malnutrition in all its forms. The measure also mandates the city government, through the Manila Health Department, to provide the proper training to barangay health workers and volunteers, in order to develop their capacity to render the services contemplated.
The first 1,000 days of life, also known as the “Golden Window of Opportunity”, is the period during which the best nutrition must be given to the child to ensure his or her proper growth and development, says the ordinance’s Explanatory Note.
The measure was sponsored on the floor by Councilors Science Reyes and Ernesto “Jong” C. Isip, Jr. of the Fourth and Third Districts, respectively. It hurdled the Council’s third and final reading sans objection from any member.
