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- Category: Region CAR
August 10, 2016- “Light a candle in every Pantawid family” is the introductory message of NPC Rita D. Papey to the participants during the orientation on the Pabasa sa Nutrisyon for Pantawid families which also served as the launching of the Pabasa sa Nutrisyon for Pantawid Families (PNPF) last August 10, 2016 at Lucky’s Hotel and Restaurant, Bangued, Abra.
The orientation was attended by eighteen (18) participants who are nurses of the Nurse Deployment Program of DOH, Municipal Links and Social Welfare Assistant of DSWD assigned in the municipalities of Tineg, Lacub and Malibcong. Ms. Candice S. Willy, Nutritionist-Dietitian IV of DOH-CAR facilitated the orientation and she introduced to the participants the nutrition modules to be used in the conduct of Pabasa sa Nutrisyon and also the BIDA Kit and Your Nutrition Guide as additional references.
Pabasa sa Nutrisyon for Pantawid Families (PNPF) is a project of the Regional Nutrition Committee-Cordillera which aims to enhance nutrition education among Pantawid families through additional modules on nutrition in the family development sessions towards an improved nutritional status of children, and other vulnerable groups like pregnant and lactating mothers. During the first quarter Regional Nutrition Committee meeting last February 10, 2016, one of the proposed actions of the body to address malnutrition among the Cordilleran children is the provision of lengthier discussion on nutrition in the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program Family Development Session (FDS). This will empower the poor families to understand and give importance to the nutrition of their children and other vulnerable groups.
In the Nourishment Program (composed of package of nutrition services) conducted by DOH-CAR in the four Nutritionally Depressed Municipalities in the province of Abra, it showed that 64% of the underweights were children of Pantawid beneficiaries. Hence, the FDS would be a good venue for enhancing the nutrition education and awareness among poor families towards ensuring good health and nutrition of their children and vulnerable groups.
Core group from NNC-CAR, DOH-CAR, DSWD-CAR and POPCOM-CAR was able to package the Pabasa sa Nutrition for three FDS sessions. Pabasa sa Nutrisyon is an interactive education tool developed by the Nutrition Center of the Philippines (NCP) and which was adopted by NNC for community based nutrition education activities. . The Pabasa sa Nutrisyon modules will be conducted during the FDS of the three pilot municipalities of Tineg, Lacub and Malibcong, all in the province of Abra for the months of September to November 2016. The FDS using the pabasa sa nutrisyon modules will be implemented by the seventeen (17) nurses of the Nurse Deployment Program assigned in the area with the assistance of the Municipal Links and Social Welfare Assistants. They plan to cover 47 FDS clusters consisting of 974 families before the end of the year. These pilot municipalities were selected by the core team based on the following criteria: GIDA area, high prevalence of undernutrition, poverty incidence and number of Pantawid families. RNC-CAR also plans to implement the project in the entire Cordillera next year.
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- Category: Region CAR
Baguio City-The National Nutrition Council together with the Regional Nutrition Committee –Cordillera is set to conduct a “Walk for the First 1000 Days” as the Regional Culminating Activity of the month long celebration of the 2016 Nutrition Month on July 29, 2016 at the Eco Trail of the Camp John Hay, Baguio City. 200 expected participants from the member agencies of the Regional Nutrition, District/City Nutrition Program Coordinators-CAR, CordiBNS Inc., CAR-Media Educators on Nutrition (CAR-MENU) and other guests were invited to join the walk. Director Lakshmi I. Legaspi, Regional Director of the Department of Health-CAR and the Chairperson of the Regional Nutrition Committee is also expected to grace the activity.
After the 1 hour and 30 minutes’ walk, a pledge of commitment will be signed to solidify the involvement of the participants in creating awareness on the significance of good maternal nutrition and proper Infant and Young Child Feeding practices. The activity does not only aim to give awareness but also to evoke a positive change in practices for optimum nutrition and growth. Nancy E. Paclos
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- Category: Region CAR
BANAUE, Ifugao – The Provincial Nutrition Council (PNC) is conducting the provincial search for Green Banner Award (GBA) with a team doing the municipal evaluation of local program initiatives (Melpi) on nutrition.The Melpi evaluation is conducted every year to evaluate the nutrition programs implemented in the different municipalities to address the nutrition needs of the people particularly pre-schoolers and school children.
Through the Melpi, the different municipalities will be given technical assistance for the improvement of nutrition program implementation in their respective localities.
Members of the PNC technical working group started their evaluation in Banaue last April 15 and 16 followed by Lagawe – April 18; Lamut – April 19; Hingyon – April 20; Asipulo – April 21; Kiangan – April 22; April 25 to 29 for Aguinaldo, Alfonso Lista, and Mayoyao, respectively; and from May 2 to 5 in Tinoc and Hungduan.
Ifugao was conferred the Nutrition Honor Award in 2014 for the efficient and effective management of the provincial nutrition program, which led to the improvement of the nutritional situation especially among pre-school and schoolchildren.
Ifugao has been consistently scoring in its nutrition programs bagging the Green Banner Award and the Consistent Regional Winner in Nutrition award on its way to winning the highest nutrition award of the country. Marcelo B. Lihgawon / PIA
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- Category: Region CAR
Better implementation of nutrition programs are in progress as the Regional Nutrition Committee (RNC) approves four new resolutions during the 2nd RNC meeting held on June 29, 2016 at El Cielito Inn, Baguio City.
The discussed resolutions deal with scaling up nutrition education for the poor, improving the status of Barangay Nutrition Scholars (BNS), recognition of high performing Local Government Units (LGUs) and adoption of LGU mobilization strategies.
Better knowledge and awareness on proper nutrition for the poor was highlighted during the resolution discussions. It intends to adopt nutrition modules developed from the Nutrition Center of the Philippines’ “Pabasa sa Nutrisyon” . It will be integrated to the Family Development Sessions (FDS) under the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps). Pilot areas are set to be in selected municipalities of Abra namely Malibcong, Luba and Tineg.
Improving the status for BNSs was discussed with the RNC deciding to help stir the process that could lead to amendment of PD 1569 or the Barangay Nutrition Scholar Program. Taking from the petition prepared by the National Federation of BNSs, the RNC supported among others the proposal to upgrade the BNSs to salaried workers with a remuneration of P 5000 pesos a month plus allowance depending on their LGU’s capacity. In addition, the proposal requests security of tenure and scholarships to immediate family members.
Recognition will also be given to LGUs with significant contribution to the MDG targets for 2015. In particular, those with consistent decreases in malnutrition rates in the last three years, those with less than 1% malnutrition prevalence in the last three years and barangays with zero malnutrition rates in the last three years will be provided certificates of recognition during the 2016 Regional Nutrition Awarding Ceremony set on October.
A resolution is also approved regarding a “shepherding strategy” which aims to improve the nutrition status of low performing areas through assistance from high performing LGUs and from core team of the Regional technical Assistants on Nutrition (RTAN) members. The strategy also aims to help improve nutritionally depressed municipalities improve the nutritional status in their respective areas. In addition, the strategy also aims to help high achieving LGUs be able to sustain performance or further improve performance as they compete for national awards on nutrition.
According to Ms. Rita Papey of National Nutrition Council (NNC), “These resolutions will help in improve the achievement of nutrition goals. The first two are focused more on attaining equity in terms of providing assistance to the poor while the others recognize high performing LGUs and reach out to the low performers.”
With the approval of these resolutions, it is expected that the nutrition rates within the region will continue to improve in the following years. Arrianne Nebrida
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Many studies have shown a link between undernutrition, especially stunting, in the first years of life and overnutrition in the later years.
The First 1,000 Days has been called the “golden window of opportunity” for a comprehensive package of nutrition and related interventions to achieve significant changes in reduction in child stunting, underweight and wasting, at the same time contribute to complete child development.
Highlighting the First 1,000 Days during Nutrition Month in July aims to create awareness on the importance of proper infant and young child feeding practices, particularly exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months and giving appropriate complementary food after six months while continuing breastfeeding.
The celebration also aims to promote collaboration among various stakeholders both at the national and local levels for programs serving families with pregnant mothers and children less than two years old.
The 2016 Nutrition Month celebration will also serve as a venue for the launching of the Early Childhood Care and Development Intervention Package (ECCD-IP) for the First 1000 Days.
The NNC leads the ECCD-IP First 1000 Days program which aims to contribute to the full development of the child through integrated services of health, nutrition, early education, and social services for improved quality of the country’s human resource base as a contribution to reduce poverty. It addresses the call for a “holistic approach to the provision of health, nutrition, education, and social welfare services to children 0-8 years of age”, but with an even more refined focus on the first 1000 days of life. Specifically, the ECCD-IP First 1000 Days aims to reduce mortality and morbidity rates among children zero to 23 months old; reduce the prevalence of stunting and wasting among children; and increase the percentage of children of the same age meeting developmental milestones.
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- Category: Region CAR
The province of Benguet which is vying for the Green Banner Award was visited last week by the regional evaluation team for 2016 Monitoring and Evaluation of Local Level Plan Implementation (Mellpi) on nutrition programs.
From June 7 – 10 the Regional Nutrition Evaluation Team (RNET) evaluated the nutrition program Implementation in Bokod, Kabayan, and Tublay, and Kibungan for the Outstanding Barangay Nutrition Scholar.
The province is vying for the Green Banner Award for the provincial level, while Tublay is gunning for the Green Banner Award (Level).
RNET is composed of focal persons from different government agencies and non-government organizations is spearheaded by the National Nutrition Council.
Mellpi started in April, and RNET has already visited Cordilleras two Cities and provinces.
Mellpi is a management tool to assess progress o f plan implementation, identify strengths and weaknesses in implementing the program., and institute corrective measures and facilitate achievements of the plan’s objectives.
It aims to assess the efficiency and effectiveness of local governments in planning and implementing local nutrition programs as parts of NNC’s mandate as stated in the Philippine Plan of Action.
This is the government’s effort to raise the nutrition level and its citizenry.
Under the Mellpi, the functionality of the local nutrition committees from the provinces to the cities and municipalities down to barangays are evaluated.
The green banner award is given to a municipality, city or province which has shown very satisfactory performance in implementing nutrition programs.
