2nd Year CROWN Maintenance Award
Misamis Occidental
“MISOCC” (Misamis Occidental In Support Of the Communities’ Continuous Progress)
From 2019, the journey of Misamis Occidental or MISOCC towards a well-nourished community continues. MISOCC, an acronym which could also means “Misamis Occidental In Support Of the Communities’ Continuous Progress,” is an appropriate phrase to name the province as one of the 2nd Year Consistent Regional Outstanding Winner in Nutrition (CROWN) Maintenance Awardee. Again, to emphasize, the province supporting the communities’ continuous progress.
Misamis Occidental is one of the five provinces in Region X (Northern Mindanao). It is a second income class province divided into two Congressional Districts, with three cities (Oroquieta as its capital, Ozamis and Tangub) and 14 municipalities (Aloran, Baliangao, Bonifacio, Calamba, Clarin, Concepcion, Don Victoriano Chiongbian, Jimenez, Lopez Jaena, Panaon, Plaridel, Sapang Dalaga, Sinacapan, and Tudela), and comprised of 490 barangays with a population of 602,126 from the 2015 Census. The economy of the province depends highly on fishing, coconuts, and rice; thus, the name of the province was derived from Subanen (one of the languages/dialects spoken in the province aside from Cebuano, English, Tagalog, and Maranao) word “kuyamis,” meaning a variety of coconut.
In terms of nutrition, the province stands firm in its vision: “With God’s overflowing blessings, Misamis Occidental will ensure a nutritional well-being of all Misamisnons by empowering the people to be self-reliant, living on a peaceful, healthy, highly productive, sustainable ecosystem, and service-oriented leadership.” This vision is complemented with its mission: “The Provincial Government will conquer malnutrition through the collaborative efforts between the government, civil society and other stakeholders in achieving a healthy quality of life for a better service to God and for Misamis Occidental.” Further with the province’s goal in nutrition: “To produce healthy, intelligent and productive citizens of Misamis Occidental by increasing awareness among families and individuals by coping and having resiliency strategies to prevent malnutrition and to improve quality of life through mobilizing the Local Nutrition Committee and other stakeholders to address gaps in nutrition and eradicating hunger.” The attainment of the vision, mission, and goal are collaboratively being worked on through the Provincial Nutrition Committee (PNC) headed by Honorable Governor Philip T. Tan and Honorable Vice Governor Aurora Virginia M. Almonte, together with Provincial Nutrition Action Officer (PNAO) Ms. Marichu G. Tijing, and its 529 active Barangay Nutrition Scholars (BNSs).
Among the best practices in the achievement of nutritional well-being of the province’s constituents are the support of its committed Local Chief Executives (LCEs), Sangguniang Panlalawigan as well as the inter-sectoral members comprising the PNC. Noteworthy also is the presence of Nutrition Office and staff complement as well as the permanent designation of PNAO and provision of support staff responsible in all the programs, projects and activities (PPAs) pertaining to nutrition in the province. In addition, a number of policies (ordinances, resolutions and executive orders) were passed in 2017 and 2018, to mention a few, on the approval of the Provincial Nutrition Action Plan (PNAP) 2019 and Local Nutrition Action Plans (LNAP); creation of the Provincial Nutrition Committee Monitoring Team; strict implementation of the provisions of PPAN 2017-2022, Executive Order (EO) 51 (Milk Code), Republic Act (RA) 8976 (Philippine Food Fortification Program); and RA 11148 or the First 1000 Days Law (Kalusugan at Nutrisyon ng Mag-Nanay Act); re-orientation on e-OPT tool; and promotion on TV and radio of the nutrition month celebration, among others. Although, the functionality of these policies needs to be strengthened through monitoring and analysis and not merely adoption of such. There were also established Breastfeeding Committee, Bantay Asin Task Force, Breastfeeding/Lactation stations, and presence of Teenage Centers. The inventory of weighing scales and length/height boards is also being updated to ensure that there is adequate equipment for the delivery of nutrition services.
With these, the nutrition banner or flagship program in 2019 identified include the establishment of breastfeeding and teen pregnancy support groups through the station and center, respectively. To mention also is the policy of the Philippine National Police (PNP), as one of their partners in implementing the programs, having with them a pocket-size Nutritional Guidelines for Filipinos (NGF) for easy access and reminders of the messages in the guidelines. Another partnership is with the University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines’ (USTP) through their food product development (eg. Alugbati roll) and promotion of vegetable gardening. In implementing PPAs in nutrition, the innovation of combined nutrition intervention proved an effective way of disseminating nutrition information (e.g., IEC materials as 10 Kumainments and Pinggang Pinoy).
For the nutritional status among preschoolers in 2017 to 2019, the consistent decline of the prevalence in all forms of malnutrition was commendable. For underweight, 4.5% to 3.8% for 2017 to 2019 respectively; 11.1% to 9.36% for stunting; 3.0% to 2.65% for wasting; and 3.60% to 1.45% for overweight and obesity. On the other hand, among school children for the school years (SY) 2017-2018, 2018-2019, and 2019-2020, there were also declining trends from 10.62% to 9.92% for wasting and 2.06% to 1.89% for overweight and obesity.
Although there are always limitations in the process of planning to implement and further monitor and evaluate nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive programs, still very evident factor in the success of the province is the support of its local officials and the human resource behind these programs, striving to work hard in achieving its goals for the Misamisnons’ well-being and the communities’ progress as a whole. The key then for its success is simply “MISOCC,” “Misamis Occidental In Support Of the Communities’ Continuous Progress.”
Written by
DR. MARIE T. BUGAS
Senior Science Research Specialist
Food and Nutrition Research Institute - Department of Science and Technology
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