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Directors Bio 3471 2756

AZUCENA MILANA-DAYANGHIRANG, MD, MCH, CESO III
ASSISTANT SECRETARY and EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
NATIONAL NUTRITION COUNCIL

Dr. Azucena M. Dayanghirang is an experienced public health leader. For the past 29 years, she has been a facilitator and a trainer for various health programs particularly on Maternal Child Health and Nutrition. She has served the people of Davao as City Nutrition Action Officer from 1991-1995; Chief of the Technical Services Division and Medical Officer VI of Davao City Health Office from 1996 to 2005; as well as the Provincial Health Officer II and Provincial Nutrition Action Officer of Davao del Sur from 2008 to 2016.

During her stint in the local government, she led the City Nutrition Committee in the planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of health and nutrition programs. She initiated the “Fresh Milk Supplemental Feeding Program,” which led to the reduction of protein-energy malnutrition among 0-6-year-old children. She also successfully lobbied for the regularization of 32 Nutritionist-Dietitians deployed in the 16 Districts of Davao City in 1996.

In 2016, she was elected as the National President of the Nutrition Action Officers' Association of the Philippines (NAOPA), Inc. Shortly after, she was appointed as Deputy Executive Director of the National Nutrition Council (NNC), an attached agency of the Department of Health, Philippines. In August 2019, Dr. Dayanghirang was appointed as the Executive Director of the NNC. Currently, she is designated as the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Philippines Government Focal Point and most recently, appointed as a member of the Executive Committee of the Global Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement representing Asia and Papua New Guinea.

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte signed the appointment of Dr. Dayanghirang to Career Executive Service Officer (CESO) Rank III effective 3 December 2020. Recently, she was upgraded to Executive Director IV with the rank of Assistant Secretary as approved by President Duterte through Executive Secretary Salvador C. Medialdea on 21 July 2021.

NNC convened multisectoral forum on stunting and Midterm PPAN updating workshop

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Category: Directors Corner

Picture maps article 2019

MANILA I The National Nutrition Council in partnership with Department of Health and UNICEF Philippines held a three-day multisectoral forum and workshop entitled “MAPS: Multisectoral Actions to Prevent Stunting: A Multisectoral Forum, Mid-term Review and Updating of the Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition (PPAN) 2017-2022” on 02-04 October 2019 in Manila.

“We are at the midpoint of the implementation of the PPAN for 2017 to 2022, and it is time for self-checks. How are we doing, in terms of stunting prevention? Programs need continuous, consistent measurements, as “what gets measured, gets done.” Whatever has not been done, now is the time to get back on the mill to get it done.”, said DOH Assistant Secretary for Public Health Services Team Dr. Maria Rosario S. Vergeire in her opening message.

The three-day activity was conducted to provide the forum for exchange of new evidence, joint valuation of PPAN progress and multisectoral planning for the remaining years of PPAN 2017-2022. As an input to the mid-term review and updating of the PPAN, 2017-2022, results of recent researches relevant to addressing malnutrition, in particular, stunting were presented to the 150 attendees. The participants came from national government agencies, local and international non-government organizations, academe, regional level government agencies, and LGU representatives from PPAN focus provinces.

Dr. Alejandro Herrin of the University of the Philippines’ School of Economics gave an overview on the multisectoral actions to prevent stunting. Researches such as the World Bank Studies on Nutrition - The Peru Nutrition Success Story and Preliminary Results of the Philippine Study on the Drivers of Malnutrition was presented by Gabriel Demombynes, World Bank’s Program Leader for Human Development; Little Children: The Stunting Crisis in the Philippines (A Benchmarking Exercise) by PIDS’ Valerie Ulep; Role of Belief and Attitudes of Nutrition and Health Workers in the Persistence of Chronic Malnutrition in the Philippines by UP Economics Professor Toby Monsod and the Formative Evaluation of the Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition by Jed Asiaii Dimaisip-Nabuab, Senior Monitoring and Evaluation Associate of Innovations for Poverty Action, were among the researches presented in the forum. Adjunct to the research discussions, former DILG Undersecretary Austere Panadero and now Zuellig Family Foundation’s Executive Director discussed “Dynamics of LGU Mobilization for Stunting Reduction”.

The participants collectively reviewed the extent the targets in the PPAN Results Framework were accomplished, and agreed on the possible actions for 2020-2022, the remaining years of the current PPAN. Potential funding source, the lead and support agencies were also identified to ensure the operationalization of the Plan.

NNC Executive Director Dr. Azucena M. Dayanghirang in her closing message stressed that the activity was conducted “…not to point fingers nor to find faults but to… find ways to move forward to achieve our PPAN goals.” She requested the participants to rethink activities based on the evidences and discussions; engage other players that can help move our PPAN, and disseminate our PPAN down to the barangays, so that they know what and how they can contribute.

The updated PPAN, 2017-2022 will be further subjected to a technical review by a select core group and later by the NNC Technical Committee before the final adoption by the NNC Governing Board.

Copy of the forum presentations can be downloaded via: http://bit.ly/MAPSResourceMaterials

(Daniel G. Salunga)