In line with this year’s Nutrition Month theme “Malnutrisyon Patuloy na Labanan, First 1,000 Days Tutukan”, the National Nutrition Council-Cordillera Administrative Region (NNC-CAR) calls for the continued promotion of the First 1000 Days to increase awareness and understanding of the strategy as well as for the continued action to address malnutrition even during the pandemic.
This is in relation to the NNC-commissioned recall survey in January 2021 which showed that only 11% of the respondents were aware of the First 1000 Days strategy.
As highlighted by the panelists during the 2021 Nutrition Month Kapihan/Press Conference, an activity jointly organized by the NNC-CAR and Philippine Information Agency (PIA)-CAR, the First 1,000 Days is the “Golden Window of Opportunity” where the health, nutrition, and development foundations of the child are established. Good nutrition can help maximize a child’s ability to grow, learn, and develop, which profoundly affects his/her health, well-being, and success later on in adulthood.
The panelists during the Kapihan also discussed the ABAKADA messages to support the campaign. A for Alagaan ang buntis, BA for Breastfeeding kay baby, KA for Komplementary feeding na sapat, and DA for Dapat lahat suportado ang PPAN.
“We enjoin all to still sustain our campaign on the First 1000 Days because this is the foundation if we want to have intelligent human resources in our country and if we want to have a healthy nation. We need to start it right in our First 1000 Days,” remarked NNC-CAR OIC-Nutrition Program Coordinator Bella Basalong.
Meanwhile, Nurse Loraine Ramos, Health Education and Promotion Officer III and BGHMC Breastfeeding Committee Coordinator, emphasized that mental health is the silent pandemic that was brought to us by COVID-19. She reminded the public to always be aware of the danger signs of mental health problems and to seek professional interventions once these signs are being experienced.
Nutritional status in CAR
OIC-NPC Basalong presented during the Kapihan the nutritional status in Cordillera based on the data from the survey conducted by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST-FNRI) in 2015.
In terms of wasting or the thinness or weight for height, CAR has a prevalence rate of 4.5% for children under 5 years old. This is lower than the national prevalence rate of 7.1%. On the other hand, underweight and stunting (short or very short for age) in the region have prevalence rates of 16.8% and 33.4%, respectively. These are still lower than the national prevalence rates of 21.5% and 36.7%.
OIC-NPC Basalong however pointed out that in terms of overweight and obesity, CAR belongs to the top 5 regions with the highest prevalence rates.
“Overweight and obesity pose greater risk for the development of non-communicable diseases,” she warned.
In addition, she also shared that 2 out of 10 pregnant women in the region are nutritionally at risk. This accounts to 22.9% of pregnant women in the region to be nutritionally at risk. Meanwhile, only 6.6% of lactating mothers in CAR are found to be nutritionally at risk.
SIMON B. COPEZ & BELLA M. BASALONG
