City gov’t responds to national gov’t urgent call on nutrition program
As City Local Government Unit (LGU) responds to the national governments’ urgent call on the intensive implementation of the nutrition program, the City Nutrition Office (CNO) responded by conducting an orientation on the formulation of the Barangay Nutrition Action Plan (BNAP) to the 27 barangays.
City Nutrition Action Officer (CNAO) Nancy Adalin said that the activity aims to guide the Barangay Nutrition Council (BNC) on its roles and functions. Also, it aims to ensure uniformity in their BNAP’s composition and structure concerning the direction of the country’s action plan for nutrition, based on the national program guidelines. Further, she emphasized that the barangay must have a specific local initiative on nutrition program in their respective localities to achieve zero malnutrition that is embodied in the 2017-2022 Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition (PPAN).
The PPAN is an integral part of the Philippine Development Plan 2017-2022 which is consistent with the Duterte Administration’s 10-point Economic Agenda, the Philippine Health Agenda, and the development pillars of Malasakit (protective concern), Pagbabago (change or transformation), and Kaunlaran (development), and the vision of Ambisyon 2040. It is considered the country’s commitments to the global community as incorporated in the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, the 2025 Global Targets for Maternal, Infant and Young Child Nutrition, and the 2014 International Conference on Nutrition.
Previously, the Department of Health (DOH), through the National Nutrition Council (NNC), ordered that such a program for Filipinos should be treated as an urgent measure to address malnutrition problems. The basis of the insistence is the high level of stunting and wasting among children under five (5) years of age that have remained unchanged over the years.
While stunting is relatively low among infants 0-11 months old but is significantly higher among one (1) year olds which shows that the prevalence of stunting remains high for the older children.
In addition to height issues, Adalin kept mentioning hunger and food insecurity in her previous interview as 68.3% of Filipino households are not meeting their calorie needs while at the same time overweight and obesity needs to be addressed among different demographics to include adults. She also emphasizes that malnutrition is not just poor nutrition and a problem of hunger and starvation, but being fleshy and bulky is also considered an unhealthy condition.
Meanwhile, in partnership with the National Nutrition Council (NNC) Region XII, CNO continues to partner with Non-Government Organizations (NGOs), private sectors and private individuals to help children in the city with malnutrition problems while local strategies that deals with food security and sustainability such as community garden and “gulayan sa ugsaran” were constantly expanding.
Adalin, on the other hand, hopes that the barangay’s actions for the nutrition program will be carried out immediately considering that it is one of the areas that will be rated on this year’s Barangay Empowerment Program (BEP) evaluation.