Cebu Pacific (CEB) has strengthened its partnership with the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) to reach millions of undernourished children in the Philippines, the airline said in a statement issued in Doha yesterday.
The endeavour is part of Unicef’s ‘Change for Good’ programme, which accepts contributions from passengers on board flights of partner airlines. Proceeds contribute to the UN children’s agency’s ‘First 1,000 Days’ campaign, which provides optimal nutrition – from a mother’s pregnancy to a child’s second year of life.
Since July 1, 2016, CEB began accepting contributions of all currencies from passengers. The contributions are being used to fund nutritional supplements distributed to poor households with pregnant mothers or malnourished children. A portion of the funds also support barangay-level information drives on nutrition in Unicef’s focus areas in Northern Samar, Zamboanga, and Maguindanao.
“We are very pleased with how warmly our passengers are receiving the ‘Change for Good’ programme,” said CEB president and CEO Lance Gokongwei.
Unicef Philippines representative Lotta Sylwander explained that the nutrition received by children from the womb to their second birthday is crucial for their physical and intellectual development. “If these children are able to grow to their full extent, they perform better in school and eventually get better jobs as adults,” she said.
In the Philippines, around 4mn Filipino children are “stunted”. These children are undernourished, causing irreversible damage to their health, physical growth, and brain development. The global programme ‘Change for Good’ targets these children by cashing in donations for life-saving materials and services for vulnerable children in more than 150 countries.
Its partner, CEB, has piloted the programme in the East Asia and the Pacific region, and focuses its collection efforts exclusively to Unicef Philippines’ ‘First 1,000 Days’ programme.
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