BAGUIO CITY, Nov. 24 (PIA) -- It is important to take care of pregnant women to prevent iron-deficiency anemia and promote normal weight in children, an official of the National Nutrition Council (NNC) said.

In a forum, NNC Executive Director and Department of Health (DOH) Assistant Secretary Maria Bernardita Flores outlined the importance of investing on the health and nutrition of children especially on their first 1,000 days or from pregnancy up to two years old. She said this is a critical period in a child’s life malnutrition in children for two years will result in stunted growth both physically and mentally. Worse, any other intervention would be for naught.

She said a 2008 National Nutrition Survey found that the prevalence of underweight, stunting and wasting among under-five children are 20.6 percent, 32.3 and 6 percent, respectively.

Nutritionally-at-risk pregnant women is also a concern. In 2008, a prevalence rate of 26.3 percent was recorded, almost the same level as the 26.6 percent prevalence rate in 2003, she said.

Flores though expressed the government's optimism that that with proper programs in place, the country will attain its Millennium Development Goal target of cutting in half the prevalence of underweight among preschool children under
MDG No. 1 - Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger.

The country's millennium development goal is to reduce baseline underweight rate from 27.3 percent to 13.7 percent by 2015.

Flores said 2011 data of the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) revealed that current underweight rate among pre-schools in the country stands at 20.2 percent.

With the 2nd National Conference of Barangay Nutrition Scholars at the Baguio Country Club, Flores said the NNC hopes to strengthen partnership with the more than 40,000 barangay nutrition scholars all over the country for better implementation of the Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition (PPAN) 2011-2016. (JDP/CCD-PIA CAR)