Elimination of extreme poverty and hunger and reduction of child mortality are among the Millennium Development Goals for 2015. Worldwide, undernutrition is one of the major causes of mortality among infants and young children. In the Philippines, the prevalence of undernutrition and micronutrient deficiency remained high period of three years (i.e., from 2005 -2008).
Five participating UN organizations forged a partnership with the Government of the Philippines to undertake a Joint Programme under the UNDP-Spain MDG Achievement Fund (MDGF) to formulate a Medium Term Plan of Action for Nutrition for 2008-2015. In addition to the inputs of the MDGF 2030, the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) also provided funds for the conduct of the infant and young child feeding (IYCF) baseline survey in the six MDGF sites plus two other non-MDGF cities.
The baseline survey was conducted in the six MDGF sites composed of three cities (Naga, Iloilo and Zamboanga) and three municipalities (Ragay in Camarines Sur, Carles in Iloilo and Aurora in Zamboanga del Sur). The objectives were to describe the current IYCF practices and identify major individual, family and community factors that contribute to current breastfeeding practices, as well as to determine growth/nutritional and micronutrient status.
The survey was designed to provide baseline data which will be used as basis for program design, monitoring and evaluation. Results will be used to measure changes in the project outcomes which could be attributed to the project inputs. The two major outcomes of interest among the target children are reduction in the prevalence of under nutrition in all eight sites and the reduction of the prevalence of micronutrient deficiencies in five cities.