COTABATO CITY – Bangsamoro Government partnered with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the United Kingdom Government Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office to conduct a four-part webinar series which will thoroughly discuss issues affecting children in the Bangsamoro region.
The webinar, dubbed “Online Kapihan: Child-Based Reporting in the New Normal”, aims to disseminate information how Covid-19 affected the Bangsamoro communities especially the children.
Hosted by the BARMM’s Bureau of Public Information, the four-part webinar will be done once a month from November 2020 to February 2021.
Topic during the webinar’s first session on Thursday, Nov. 25, was ‘Covid-19 and its effects on children and their families’, with resource persons coming from the BARMM’s Office of the Executive Secretary, Ministry of Social Services and Development (MSSD), and Journalist John Felix Unson from the Philippine Star.
According to the report of MSSD, BARMM is extremely vulnerable to the impacts of COVID-19 and it has impacted negatively to the children of Bangsamoro, too.
MSSD Chief of Staff Lyca Therese Sarenas, who represented Minister Raissa Jajurie, noted that poverty, weak health system, and lack of access to full information on how to protect themselves [children], are among the factors that make the children more vulnerable to the impact of Covid-19.
“To name a few, increased risks of death and illnesses, child malnutrition, resurgence of vaccine preventable diseases and increased school dropouts are among the negative impact of the pandemic,” Sarenas said.
However, Bangsamoro children is one of the priorities of the BARMM government as manifested on the Parliament’s Resolution No.48 which gives full support to the Bangsamoro children’s Declaration in commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations on the Rights of the children.
RA 11054 or the Bangsamoro Organic Law’s Section 14 states that “the Bangsamoro Government shall respect, protect and promote the rights of children.”
Efforts of the BARMM for children during pandemic includes distribution of critical WASH supplies including hygiene kits and services, portable handwashing facilities, supplemental feeding program, Measles-Rubella supplemental immunization activity, educational assistance and psychosocial support services. (Bureau of Public Information)
