As the Christmas season rolls in, families and friends gather for festivities and share in the joy of the holidays. However, in some parts of the country, this time of the year can be challenging, particularly for those who live in conflict-afflicted areas and vulnerable communities.
With Christmas dubbed as ‘the season of giving’, Filipino families have an opportunity to support underprivileged children through the buy-and-donate program* of Erceflora Kiddie for the benefit of Batang Matatag – a partnership between Erceflora Kiddie and Save the Children that aims to provide communities with the resources they need to improve access to health, nutrition, sanitation, and education in combatting child mortality caused by diarrhea.
The Gift of Gut Health All Year Round
Diarrhea has been recorded as the leading cause of illness and the fourth leading cause of infant death in the Philippines. However, this disease is easily preventable when communities are provided with safe water, adequate sanitation facilities, and proper hygiene practices. Diarrhea is also a key indication of poor gut health, which drives the Batang Matatag Movement to ensure that no child in school would have to suffer from this disease again.
Since 2022, the campaign has worked to provide Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) facilities, community kitchens, and educational programs on proper health and hygiene to communities in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), improving the quality of life and health levels of hundreds of families across Iligan City and Lanao del Sur.
Following its success in BARMM, Batang Matatag has extended the movement to Luzon starting in the province of Rizal, as it aims to provide mobile handwashing stations, WASH caravans, and water-filtering systems in communities and schools in need. The movement sets its sights to establish its footprint in more areas in Luzon over the next five years.
Help Spread the Gift of Gut Health this Christmas
Through Erceflora Kiddie’s buy-and-donate program*, a portion of each Erceflora Kiddie sale is donated to the Batang Matatag Campaign to help build more WASH facilities and create more hygiene education programs for communities around the country.
Since a healthy gut protects the body from bad bacteria, and 70% of the body’s immunity comes from the gut, Erceflora Kiddie also encourages Filipinos to safeguard their own families’ health as they help the movement reach more children nationwide.
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