Baku, October 2, AZERTAC

The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) on Tuesday launched a benefit package to address malnutrition of Filipino children at their developmental stage, reports the Philippine News Agency (PNA).

The state insurer, together with the Department of Health (DOH) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), created the Outpatient Therapeutic Care for Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM), which covers anthropometrics and clinical assessment, counseling, follow-up visits, and other commodities.

PhilHealth president and chief executive officer Emmanuel Ledesma Jr. said the new benefit package affirms the right to dignity of Filipino children and sets a standard for which every Filipino child must have access to nutrition.

According to joint malnutrition estimates by UNICEF, the World Health Organization, and the World Bank in 2022, one in three Filipino children under five years old is stunted or too short for their age.

Moreover, the Philippines is second to Indonesia for having the worst conditions in the region.

The outpatient therapeutic care package is available through select PhilHealth-accredited facilities.

Beneficiaries with children under six months old shall receive PHP 7,500 while those with children ages six months to 60 months shall receive PHP 17,000.

This initiative is the first primary care and social health financing package worldwide which is funded through national health insurance to achieve zero SAM.