P2 B set for health care of Cordillera children

By Dexter A. See

BAGUIO CITY — The Cordillera office of the Department of Health announced recently it will expand the child health program next year with P2 billion allocation whereby an estimated 200,000 children in the region would benefit.

The Garantisadong Pambata or GP program, a package of health services that has traditionally been given to children below six years, will now be also offered even for school aged children and will also include additional and appropriate services.

Dr. Amelita Pangilinan, DOH Cordillera health operations division head, said the 2011 P2 billion budget would help more than 200,000 children in Cordillera.

The 2011 GP budget is about five fold increase compared to the P325 million budget this year.

For this year, the GP targets in Cordillera are about 23,000 6-11 months and 183,000 12 to 59 months old children,’ Pangilinan said.

The health department is now giving more focus on the United Nations Millennium Development Goals thus child health is one of our priorities,’ Pangilinan said.

She said the expanded GP program will be big help in child health promotion and for providing enough essential vaccines, micro-nutrient supplements and de-worming tablets.

‘The GP program does not only provide essential vaccines, vitamin A supplements and deforming, “Pangilinan said.” It also includes promotion of other health behavior such as maternal health, oral health of children, proper hand washing, proper toilet use and other promotions of essential child health care.’