BAGUIO CITY, Nov. 22 (PIA) - - The National Nutrition Council (NNC) strengthened its partnership with the barangay nutrition scholars in North and Central Luzon in the second National Conference of Barangay Nutrition Scholars at the Baguio Country Club here.
The conference, attended by over 800 BNS from Regions 1,2, 3 and the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) underscored the important role that BNS play in improving the nutrition situation of the community and their role in national development as a unified federation.
Through the conference with the theme, "Bida ng Barangay, Bida ng Bayan," NNC and its other partner agencies provided the participants with updates on current nutrition and program directions to address hunger and malnutrition and enhance their skills on self-development techniques. It was also a venue to discuss the various concerns of the federation as well as in strengthening camaraderie among them.
NNC Executive Director and Department of Health (DOH) Assistant Secretary Maria Bernadita Flores, in her keynote address, outlined the important role that BNS plays in achieving Millennium Development Goal No. 1 – Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger, particularly in cutting in half the prevalence of underweight among preschool children.
Flores explained that under the MDG goal no. 1, from the baseline underweight rate of 27.3 percent, the country is committed to cut it to 13.7 percent by 2015. “More work need to be done as based on the 2011 data of the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) the current underweight rate (among pre-schoolers) in the country stands at 20.2,” she added.
She encouraged the BNS to continue with their passion and hard work in bringing in nutrition and health programs of the national government in their respective communities.
Flores also reiterated President Aquino’s message during the NNC awarding last November 9, where he outlined the importance of investing in the nutrition and health of children especially during their first 1,000 days or from pregnancy up to two years old.
As members of the DOH organized community health teams that are deployed in the different localities all over the country, Flores called for a stronger partnership for the attainment of the Aquino Administration’s health agenda of “Kalusugan Pangkalahatan” and in the implementation of the Philippine Plan of Action on Nutrition.
At present, there are 56,000 fully trained community health teams that are already deployed and being mobilize to cater to the health needs of the people especially the poor household beneficiaries of the government’s Conditional Cash Transfer Program.
Flores also called on local government units to hire, train, and deploy more BNS. The BNS Federation has listed around 42,000 BNS nationwide.
The Baguio leg of the conference is the third of four BNS conferences scheduled this year.(JDP/CCD-PIA CAR)
