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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 Executive Director appointed as Scaling Up Nutrition Movement Executive Committee member

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Category: Directors Corner

Congrats Doc Apet

The Executive Director of the National Nutrition Council (NNC), who is also the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Government Focal Point, has been appointed as a member of the SUN Executive Committee for the Asia and the Pacific Region for a period of two years, from March 2020 to February 2022.  The Executive Committee provides guidance and support to the SUN Coordinator’s focus on results for improving the nutritional status of mothers and children; oversees efforts to align support for all SUN countries to achieve results; and delivers the SUN's expected deliverables for approval by the Lead Group.

As an Executive Committee member, Dr. Dayanghirang’s responsibilities include overseeing efforts to align support for all SUN countries to achieve results by ensuring that: 1) appropriate mechanisms are in place to track the impact and implementation of the strategy and advise the Coordinator on the course-corrections required; 2) the work of the Secretariat and Networks is aligned with the Movement's strategic objectives and that they are adequately resourced; and 3) that the providers of assistance are organized in ways that enable support that is timely and predictable, efficient and effective, relevant and prioritized.

The representation of NNC and the Philippines in the SUN Executive Committee will serve as a platform to put forward and share NNC's initiatives in scaling up nutrition in the Philippines. Furthermore, this will enable the NNC to learn best practices of other countries, which we can apply in our own context.