Batang Matatag: Empowering Filipino families, youth
To address child mortality caused by diarrhea, a surprisingly common health problem overlooked by society, appropriate facilities will be provided to the said communities by Batang Matatag to ensure access to proper hygiene, sanitation and healthcare education.

SAVE The Children CEO Atty. Alberto Muyot. | PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF SAVE THE CHILDREN
The Batang Matatag campaign, an initiative of Ercelflora and Save The Children, aims to do more than what it would like to address concerning issues the Filipino youth are facing today.
Batang Matatag focuses on providing access to clean and nutritious food to communities, starting with the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao. It targets about 500 children, specifically the Badjao in Iligan, and the Maranao youth.

BATANG Matatag ambassador Carol Ann Stewart.
To address child mortality caused by diarrhea, a surprisingly common health problem overlooked by society, appropriate facilities will be provided to the said communities to ensure access to proper hygiene, sanitation and healthcare education.
According to Dr. Joselyn Eusebio, Specialist for Developmental and Behavioural Pediatrics, one of the main issues facing Filipino children is undernutrition.
"If during the first 1,000 days the child is undernourished, it's hard to reverse. In that window of opportunity, all the necessary factors or ingredients to optimize the development of our brains should be given, consequently the development of the children are provided," she said.

Dr. Joselyn Eusebio, Specialist for Developmental and Behavioural Pediatrics.
Atty. Albert Muyot, CEO of Save the Children Philippines, hopes that local governments can take inspiration from the project to show that with minimal funding, and through education of communities and parents, the health and nutrition status of children can be improved.
"What we also want is to prove to everyone that it's not enough that we have a policy. We have a law called the 1000 First Days law. But we have to bring it down to actual implementation at the community level," Muyot said.
