Bayer Philippines pilots Mama & Baby Care project in Tuy, Batangas, to train at least 100 BHWs on maternity and infant care

Bayer Philippines, Health Future Foundation Inc. and representatives from the local government of Tuy at the community launch event of Mama & Baby Care: The First 1,000 Days at Tuy, Batangas. In photo: (L-R back row: Incoming ABC President Hon. Kap. Ramil Sanchez, Tuy BHW President Nancy Delfinado, Tuy RHU - Public Health Nurse Alma Capricho, and Current ABC President Hon. Kap. Adrian Perez) (L-R front row: Tuy MHO Dra. Pilar, Bayer PH Communications Manager Nadira Abubakar, HFI Chair Dr. Jaime Galvez Tan, MD MPH, and Executive Assistant Domingo Condicion to represent Batangas Mayor Randy Afable)

In its commitment to championing women’s health and safety, Bayer Philippines launches the “Mama & Baby Care: The First 1,000 Days” project, an initiative that seeks to formally train at least 100 Barangay Health Workers with the fundamental modules needed for maternity and infant care. 

At a community event on May 30, 2022, “Mama & Baby Care” stakeholders officially marked the beginning of the project. The event was attended by representatives from Bayer Philippines, partner organization Health Futures Foundation Inc. (HFI) Chair Dr. Jaime Galvez Tan, MD MPH, and spokespersons from the local municipality of Tuy and its community of healthcare workers, namely Tuy Municipality Health Officer Dr. Pilar Adrias, MD Tuy BHW President Ms. Nancy C. Delfinado and Tuy ABC President Adrian Perez.

The First 1,000 Days 

The training modules, developed by HFI, give prominence to practical information on properly and safely caring for pregnant women and their babies, specifically during the first 1,000 days from conception. 

From the formational pregnancy period when the fetus grows and develops inside the womb for 270 days, until the infant’s first 730 days after birth, the program highlights the support and care health workers can give to the mother and child during this crucial stage. 

“Mama & Baby Care” also puts special emphasis on training healthcare workers in the local barangays to offer ready support for mothers closer to home, lessening the need for pregnant women to spend hours in transit just to make it to their regular check-ups in nearby cities. By empowering barangay health workers with  trainings on maternal and infant care, local governments are able to provide  access to safe motherhood in areas where such services are not available.

Bayer Philippines Managing Director Angel-Michael Evangelista remarks, "Bayer is committed to helping barangay health workers care for mothers and newborn children through the ‘Mama & Baby Care’ project through training on maternity and infant care that focuses on the first 1,000 days from the baby’s conception. At Bayer we support ‘health for all, hunger for none’, and with this project, healthcare workers are equipped with the knowledge to support both mother and child during that critical stage of development and help set the foundation for good health early on in life.”

“Working with Bayer Philippines, we wanted the program to fill in the need for maternal and infant healthcare in the local setting, hence the strategic move to focus on barangay health workers for the training. Currently, there are very few programs targeted specifically on the first 1,000 days from the baby’s conception, which our two teams saw as a crucial gap that needed to be addressed. Through this initiative, we hope to champion healthy infancy and toddlerhood by starting from the formative days of safe motherhood,” shares HFI Chair Dr. Jaime Galvez Tan, MD MPH. 

Tuy Municipal Health Officer Dr. Pilar Adrias, MD also comments, “The ‘Mama & Baby Care’ training program is an important step towards finally providing women and their children with localized care during such demanding times in their lives. Pregnancy and the early stages of motherhood are no doubt challenging, but with an efficient and capable support system around them, notably within their barangay, we hope to at least lighten the burden and ease the load of new mothers across the Philippines.”