Featured Articles

Details: Category: Featured Articles; Published: 07 March 2022

NET deliberations

The National Nutrition Evaluation Team (NET) convenes for its third and last general assembly of the year on 2 December 2021 via Zoom to deliberate the results of the evaluation for the Search for National Outstanding Local Nutrition Focal Points (LNFPs) who will be awarded in the upcoming National Nutrition Awarding Ceremony (NNAC) based on their performance in the recently held monitoring and evaluation of local level plan implementation or MELLPI Pro.

The MELLPI Pro is an enhanced tool designed to monitor and evaluate the performance of local government units (LGUs) and local nutrition focal points in promoting nutrition security vis-à-vis nutrition outcomes. Pro because it is a Protocol, it is Promotive and Progressive, and is a more Professional tool. Its results aim to guide the local chief executives and other policy and decision makers in enhancing nutrition products, and delivery of nutrition services towards improved effectiveness, efficiency, and sustainability.

Details: Category: Featured Articles; Published: 04 March 2022

press

WORLD OBESITY DAY JOINT MEDIA RELEASE

DOH and development partners call for a whole-of-society approach to reduce obesity in the Philippines

MANILA, 4 MARCH 2022 – The Department of Health (DOH), National Nutrition Council (NNC), Philippine Association for the Study of Overweight and Obesity (PASOO), Nutrition Center of the Philippines (NCP), World Health Organization (WHO), and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) raise the alarm on growing obesity in the Philippines on the occasion of World Obesity Day.

Globally, obesity affects 800 million individuals, placing them more at risk for cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and some cancers. It has also emerged as a major risk factor for severe disease during the COVID-19 pandemic, making people living with obesity twice as likely to be hospitalized if tested positive for COVID-19.

Obesity, which was once considered a problem primarily in high-income and developed countries, is now a rising health problem in low- and middle- income countries including the Philippines.

Around 27 million Filipinos are overweight and obese, based on the latest survey of the Department of Science and Technology’s Food and Nutrition Research Institute. For the past two decades, overweight and obesity among adults has almost doubled from 20.2% in 1998 to 36.6% in 2019. Similarly, the prevalence rates of overweight and obesity among adolescents have more than doubled from 4.9% in 2003 to 11.6% in 2018.

If no action is taken, overall rates of overweight and obesity will continue to rise. It is projected that more than 30% of Filipino adolescents will be overweight and obese by 2030 (Landscape Analysis on Overweight and Obesity in Children, Philippines).

Details: Category: Featured Articles; Published: 04 October 2021

Landscape Event Banner as of 1 Oct 2021 2

[Joint Press Release for Virtual Dialogue with Punong Barangays: Enabling Nutrition Devolution]

Manila, 4 October 2021. Recognizing the inadequate appreciation of the Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition 2017-2022 as the framework for addressing problems in nutrition at the barangay level, and the opportunities to scale up investment in nutrition brought by the implementation of the Supreme Court Ruling on the Mandanas-Garcia petitions and Executive Order 138, the National Nutrition Council (NNC) in partnership with the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), and the Liga ng mga Barangay sa Pilipinas (LBP), spearheaded the conduct of a Virtual Dialogue with Punong Barangays: Enabling Nutrition Devolution.

“We recognize the important role of barangays in the delivery of nutrition related programs and services to help address malnutrition and other health problems in the community,” says Secretary Eduardo Año of DILG, who was ably represented by Undersecretary Martin Diño. The DILG sits as the Vice-Chair of the NNC Governing Board.

The Formative Evaluation of the PPAN 2017-2022 commissioned by NEDA in 2019 revealed that the formulation of Barangay Nutrition Action Plans (BNAPs) varies. The nutrition volunteers, called Barangay Nutrition Scholars (BNSs), often prepare said BNAPs and submit the same to the Barangay Nutrition Committees (BNCs) for approval with no information on the budget allocation despite the various guidelines issued by the DILG, DBM, and NNC to guide planning and budgeting. Also, a familiar clamor among the Barangay Nutrition Scholars is the poor appreciation of Punong Barangays and members of the nutrition committee of their roles and functions and the importance of investing and scaling up nutrition in their governance system.

In his message, Cabinet Secretary Atty. Karlo Alexei B. Nograles emphasized that “with the implementation of EO 138 or the SC Ruling on Mandanas-Garcia Petitions, it is my fervent hope that our Local Chief Executives, particularly our Punong Barangays and the sangguniang kabataan chairpersons would integrate, strengthen, and sustain our nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive programs in their local policies and plans.” CabSec Nograles is the current Chair of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Zero Hunger and Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Adviser for the Philippines.

Details: Category: Featured Articles; Published: 11 August 2021

NM ARTICLE

Nutrition Month is an institutionalized campaign held every July to create greater awareness among Filipinos on the importance of nutrition as provided under Presidential Decree 491, or the Nutrition Act of the Philippines. The law also mandates the National Nutrition Council (NNC) to lead and coordinate the nationwide campaign.