health
Buen Comienzo expands its coverage in Medellín and will deliver food packages during Holy Week
Children between 0 and 5 years old who are part of Buen Comienzo gardens in Medellín had access to food 210 out of 365 days a year while attending school. One of the main shortcomings of the program was that when the little ones went home for a weekend or during vacation periods, they often had nothing to eat, leading to problems of malnutrition or child malnutrition.
TL;DR
- Buen Comienzo in Medellín now offers year-round food coverage for children aged 0-5, extending to weekends and holidays.
- The program has expanded to all 16 comunas and 5 corregimientos of Medellín.
- Increased budget from $869,000 million to $1.6 billion has facilitated this expansion.
- Food packages for the holidays include fortified cereals, dairy, protein, and vitamin-rich foods.
- Children at risk of malnutrition receive additional supplements.
- Medellín reports no deaths from acute child malnutrition for children aged 0-5 since 2024.
- Over 42,500 weekend food rations and 8,730 chronic malnutrition cases were addressed in the institutional modality this year.
- Over 14,600 food packages have been distributed in the family modality for pregnant and lactating women this year.