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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.

Scaling Up Nutrition Global Gathering (SUNGG) Held

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Category: Directors Corner

image overview sun global gathering

The Scaling Up Nutrition Global Gathering (SUNGG) is the flagship event of the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement that brings together SUN Government Focal Points and members from their multi- stakeholder platforms. In this gathering, participants shared progress, experiences and insights on how nutrition and multi-stakeholder partnerships can accelerate the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. Previously, the SUN Movement Global Gatherings have been held in New York (2013), Rome (2014), Milan (2015), and in Abidjan (2017). This year, the SUNGG was held in Kathmandu, Nepal on 4–7 November 2019. The theme of this year’s SUN Global Gathering is “Nourishing People and Planet Together,” acknowledging that globalization, urbanization, inequities, humanitarian crises and climate shocks are driving unprecedented negative changes in people’s nutrition around the world.

Plenary sessions featured interactive discussions among high-level representatives and Global Gathering participants on topics that are critical to the Movement’s progress. Five parallel workshop sessions and 25 workshops were held throughout the program, each providing opportunities for participants from SUN countries and the Movement’s support system to share and learn from one another to better scale up nutrition.

The SUN Movement is a global movement but is led by individual country governments. It aims to scale up nutrition action especially in the first 1000 days through the engagement of stakeholders from government organizations, non-government organizations, business community, academe, donors and UN agencies, among others. The Philippines has been a part of the movement since 2014.