About 4,592 pregnant women and mothers with toddlers from poor families in Eastern Visayas have begun receiving a monthly cash grant as part of the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) support for the first 1,000 days (F1KD) of life.

Each beneficiary will receive PHP350 every month to support health and nutrition during pregnancy and child feeding, said Jonna Marquez-Ranes, DSWD information officer for the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps).

The new intervention program, launched on Feb. 21, is part of the expanded health intervention for recipients of 4Ps, a conditional cash transfer program for poor families institutionalized in 2019.

“Beneficiaries are identified through manual updating of our 4Ps beneficiaries. Some also registered online. They are also validated by our field personnel,” Ranes said in an interview on Wednesday.

Enacted in 2018, the First 1,000 Days Law focuses on improving the health and nutrition of mothers and children in the Philippines during the first 1,000 days of life.

“This is our support for the law to prevent stunting within the first 1,000 days of a child from the womb until the child reaches the age of two years old,” Ranes added.

The F1KD strategy under 4Ps is the realization of the proposed reforms during the February sectoral meeting in 2024 with President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to provide cash grants to pregnant and lactating women to ensure that they would seek health services to address the health needs of their children in their first 1,000 days of life.

To receive the monthly F1KD grants, beneficiaries must comply with the conditionalities of the program, including accessing pre-natal services at health facilities accredited by the Department of Health (DOH).

They are also required to track pregnancy and receive ante-natal care services, child birthing, or delivery at a DOH-accredited health facility, attend post-natal visits, participate in counseling sessions, and obtain micronutrient supplements and immunizations. (PNA)