The target group is pregnant women and children under two years of age.
The Central Government plans to present the bond intended to improve the nutritional diet in vulnerable households during the first quarter of 2022.
The target population are expectant mothers and girls and boys under two years of age which are in the areas with the highest poverty rates in the country, indicates Erwin Ronquillo, technical secretary of Ecuador Crece sin Malnutrición Infantil.
Through brigades of the Childhood with a Future project, the population that will benefit will be determined.
“What I can anticipate is that it will be delivered by means of a chip card that will ensure that mothers acquire food destined to improve nutrition and will be conditional on compliance with co-responsibilities such as vaccination,” says Ronquillo.
What diagnosis have you made regarding the deterioration of the nutritional diet due to the reduction in household income due to the deepening crisis in this pandemic?
In terms of chronic child malnutrition, the latest official data is from 2018, which mentions that 27.2% of children under 2 years of age suffer from it (that is, one in four children who are that age). However, in the analysis we do with experts from different cooperation agencies, including UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund), there is a risk that currently a third of the population under 2 years of age is suffering from malnutrition as a result the increase in the poverty situation due to the pandemic and also due to the migratory crisis (due to the arrival of Venezuelans) that the country is going through. In other words, one in three children under 2 years of age could be suffering from malnutrition.
Do you plan to update the official malnutrition figures?
With the INEC (National Institute of Statistics and Censuses) we are working on a national survey, the pilot of which starts this January to begin to measure the real situation of chronic malnutrition at this time. This will allow us to understand how the situation of chronic malnutrition has progressed in the different provinces. The first results will be ready by the end of 2022.
Households from low and lower middle social strata are the ones that suffer the most since they are moderately and severely food insecure, according to a UNICEF survey. What have they done to face this reality?
We have very good news for the country. On November 30, the President of the Republic, Guillermo Lasso, presented the Childhood with a Future project, which is intersectoral and emergency in nature. This will allow to reach 330,000 users during 2022 in 728 parishes of 195 cantons, in the 23 provinces of continental Ecuador. This project has several objectives, such as being able to collect information directly from homes on the nutritional situation of pregnant women and children up to 2 years of age. We can also make early recruitment of pregnant women who are not attending prenatal checkups to ensure that the health system treats them as a priority. For newborns who have not been registered, do not have the registration in the Civil Registry, we can make sure that they are registered and that they can receive the controls so that they are healthy children. Being able to monitor their progress in their first months of life, this is essential within the actions that the regime undertakes to combat chronic child malnutrition. Another important aspect is that the Development Bank of Ecuador opened a special line of one billion dollars for water and sanitation projects aimed at the Decentralized Autonomous Governments (GAD). Access to safe water and sanitation is essential so that children do not suffer from malnutrition. This credit facility is so that the GADs can develop and execute projects aimed at improving water quality and bringing a better wastewater sanitation system in the cantons and parishes. These are part of President Lasso’s campaign commitments because, as he says, what is said is done and what is promised is fulfilled.
Do those 330,000 users who will serve in 2022 include children under 2 years of age and pregnant women?
I am referring to expectant mothers and children up to 2 years of age who live in the parishes with the highest poverty situation and also with the highest rates of chronic malnutrition.
When do you plan to deliver the voucher to improve the nutritional diet at home?
The commitment that we have acquired in conjunction with the Ministry of Economic and Social Inclusion (MIES) is to launch this voucher in the first quarter of 2022, in such a way that the mothers who are identified during the Childhood with Future project brigades are the first beneficiaries
How will you ensure that the voucher is used appropriately for the purchase of nutritious food?
The voucher scheme is finishing being structured, but what I can tell you in advance is that it will be a voucher that will be given through a card with a chip, which will ensure that mothers can purchase food for nutrition of the mother or child. Another thing that I can tell you is that it will be conditional on compliance with co-responsibilities. For example, that they attend check-ups so that children grow up healthy after birth or prenatal care (as the case may be).
The Unicef survey indicates that one of the reasons that parents said last May for not vaccinating their children was the shortage of the doses that are part of the annual national scheme. Have you already solved the problem?
When President Lasso took office he found there were almost two years of vaccine shortages. One of its first decisions in conjunction with the Ministry of Public Health (MSP) was to ensure the provision of vaccines for the basic pediatric picture, that is, those that are given from birth to 5 years of age. In such a way that today all health centers have the necessary vaccines for the vaccination of children. Three months ago the MSP launched a pediatric vaccination campaign in which mothers and fathers are encouraged to take their children to receive vaccines.
Are you planning a campaign to educate parents about better nurturing their children?
As part of the Childhood with a Future project, we have considered an educommunication campaign that will air during the first quarter of 2022, in which we are going to communicate to the public about the importance of uniting to combat this social problem. And we work with Unicef in educational messages directed to mothers during the pregnancy stage, then in a second phase regarding delivery and in a third phase regarding early childhood development. This campaign will be on the air throughout 2022 and will complement the actions that we will do in the 798 parishes nationwide.
Do you have the full budget to carry out these actions?
President Lasso, concerned about the situation in the country, has secured a budget for 2022 of $ 330 million for the different services of the prioritized package of goods and services of the different ministries and additionally for the Childhood with a Future project. It is an amount included in the general budget of the State, so all the resources are available. There is also President Lasso’s commitment to improve that allocation each year in order to reach the entire population.
Is the cost of the bond to improve nutrition in vulnerable households included in the $ 330 million?
The bonus is an additional value to the $ 330 million that corresponds to the benefits of the basic package. This voucher will be part of those delivered by the MIES as part of its social protection program.
Will mothers in households considered poor that collect one of the state bonds that are delivered, no longer be able to receive the one destined to combat child malnutrition?
Those who already receive a bonus would not receive this bonus to combat child malnutrition, but their children. The important thing here is that newborn boys and girls must be protected.
But that mother would have to handle the cards that will be handed out.
Of course, the one who handles the voucher is the mother, but in the event that they already receive a voucher, it cannot be duplicated.
What is the stated goal?
The first we have is to contain the increase in malnutrition, to make sure that all pregnant women, boys and girls receive their basic benefits. Additionally, as part of President Lasso’s commitments, we have the goal of reducing by 2025 six percentage points of the percentage of chronic childhood malnutrition. In this year 2022 we will have the first measurement, that will allow us to determine what the baseline is and from there we will evaluate the progress.
How will those who will benefit from the food card be chosen?
The important thing here is that we focus our work on those mothers and children in the greatest state of vulnerability and focus on the first thousand days of life. To defeat malnutrition we have to focus on that window of opportunity, so that the actions that we will undertake with the Childhood with a Future project are aimed at that target group. We will reach them through health providers and MIES social protection programs. Additionally, we will have brigades in the territory that will make visits throughout 2022, this will be an intersectoral work.
Did you fix the amount of the bonus that will be delivered in cards?
There is no definition yet on this, we will announce it in the coming weeks. (I)
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