The Cordillera won three star awards in the 2018 National Nutrition awarding ceremony held on July 31 at the Philippine International Convention Center.

Garnering the highest distinction in nutrition together with two other local government units was Alfonso Lista in Ifugao. The Nutrition Honor Award is given to a LGU that has sustained improvement in the nutritional status of their constituents for six consecutive years.

Alfonso Lista is known as the corn granary of the Cordillera. Nelly Simongo, municipal nutrition action officer of Alfonso Lista Municipal Nutrition Committee (MNC), attributed their success to the support of local government officials who made nutrition their priority and to the cooperation among the members of the local nutrition team.

The MNC, known as Saluad Salun-at Council, meaning protection of health, is headed by Mayor Glenn Prudenciano who prioritized malnutrition concerns by increasing the budget for nutrition programs by 34.8 percent for 2016 and 2017.

Projects included sustained supplementary feeding to 87 wasted and severely wasted school children and another 1,080 children enrolled in child development centers. Five hundred pesos worth of groceries and a sack of rice were given annually to selected families with malnourished children and severely wasted and underweight school children were given two bottles of multi-vitamins per month for six months.

These programs were coupled with waste management strategies that segregated biodegradable waste that were converted into organic fertilizers, among other garbage solution projects.

Most importantly, the Alfonso Lista Water and Sanitation Authority constructed booster pumps and laid out water pipes in 14 barangays, giving them better access to safe water.

Stunting prevalence among pre-schoolers decreased from 2.6 percent in 2015 to 1.4 percent in 2017. Overweight prevalence among preschool went down from 0.3 percent in 2015 to 0.1 percent in 2017.

Alfonso Lista was awarded P1 million as grant for further improving their third class municipality status.

The Crown Award or Consistent Regional Outstanding Winner in Nutrition Award is given to an LGU that has consistently implemented its nutrition action plan for three consecutive years and is granted P500,000 in cash prize.

Tublay in Benguet for projects such as the Tublay SHINES, Project AJUWHAN and other special projects got the Crown award. Its MNC lauded the leadership of Mayor Armando Lauro for his unwavering support for nutrition programs.

Tublay SHINES localized the Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition. It stands for Safe environment and disaster preparedness, Health and social services; Income generation and livelihood initiatives; Nutritious food intake and breastfeeding, Education focused on nutrition, and Stable food supply and hunger mitigation.

AJUWHAN focuses on the health of mothers as springboard for the family’s wellbeing. This consists of prenatal and postnatal care, facility-based deliveries, and buntis class and exercises, among others.

These programs resulted in the reduction of stunting and wasting prevalence among preschool children from eight percent in 2016 to 4.9 percent in 2017; and 0.2 percent in 2016 to 0.04 percent in 2017, respectively.

Baguio City also shone in the awarding event, receiving the Second Year Crown Maintenance Award together with four other LGUs and the provinces of Zamboanga Sibugay and South Cotobato.

It was distinguished for its One City, One Mind for Nutrition that gave emphasis to the role of different nutrition sub-committees that helped sustain linkages with socio-civic groups who have become dynamic members of Baguio City Nutrition Committee.

The nutrition committee also produced the Duyan ng Pagmamahal, a musical video that showed the efforts and programs of the city’s nutrition workers. The city had also organized Kalusugan hangad mo, hangad ko rin, a health and nutrition fair that featured mosquito repellent plants, fruit and vegetable smoothies, and proper handwashing, among others.

It was also awarded for its salt iodization program that strictly monitored the entry of non-iodized salt into the city.

Such programs translated into a reduction in prevalence of underweight and severely underweight preschool children from 1.5 in 2015 percent to 0.9 percent in 2017 and of stunted and severely stunted preschool children from 6.4 percent in 2015 to 3.3 percent in 2017; and of wasted and severely wasted under-five children from 1.9 percent in 2015 to 0.6 percent in 2017.

Asipulo was featured in a coffee table book published by the National Nutrition Council in collaboration with Nutrition International and Unicef launched during the awarding ceremony. The book featured best practices on nutrition of 11 LGUs. – Marilou Guieb