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- Category: Region CAR
BAGUIO CITY, Oct.23 (PIA) - - The collective efforts and sustained support to the nutrition program of the nutrition committees from the province to the barangay level help in the reduction of the prevalence of underweight among preschool children.
This was emphasized by Governor Nestor Fongwan during the 2015 Regional Nutrition Awarding Ceremony (RNAC) where Benguet bagged the 2014 Regional Most Outstanding Nutrition Implementer under the provincial level category.
The number of underweight pre-schoolers dropped to 1.76 percent in 2014 from 2.04 percent in 2013.
He cited the continuous purchase of micronutrients such as Vitamin A and iron to augment the supplies of the municipalities; maintenance of the Salt Iodization Project that supplies iodized salt in Benguet and other provinces in the region managed by the Barangay Health Workers (BHWs) and Barangay Nutrition Scholars (BNS) federations; implementation of the Food for Growth Project through provision of milk to 3,240 day care children in addition to the regular supplemental feeding program of the DSWD.
Other locally initiated programs include the procurement of 23 water purifiers for schools to have an access to safe drinking water; distribution of assorted seeds and fruit seedlings to farmers and schools in support to their food production activities; enhancement of capabilities of BNSs through conduct of BNS congress and training of BNSs and BHWs, and provision of cash incentives by the provincial local government units to the 245 BNSs, in addition to the incentives provided by their municipal and barangay local government unit among others.
Fongwan said that good infrastructure projects are of no use if the people are undernourished.
Other Regional Green Banner Awardees include the City of Baguio for city level, and the municipality of Alfonso Lista in Ifugao for the municipal level.
According to Candice Willy of the Department of Health, this year’s chair of the Regional Nutrition Evaluation Team, the Green Banner Award is given to a municipality, city or province with the most outstanding implementation of nutrition programs.
A local government unit awarded the Regional Green Banner for three consecutive years gets the Consistent Regional Winner on Nutrition (CROWN) Award. The national evaluation team assesses the CROWN awardee annually and if it maintains its status for two consecutive years, it gets evaluated for the Nutrition Honor Award, she added.
The NHA is the highest award given by the National Nutrition Council to outstanding performers that sustained its position as regional best in a specific category for six years and has passed the 98% passing score in the last year of assessment. NHA awardees belong to the “hall of fame”.
In the Cordillera, the hall of famers are Kapangan, Benguet in 1998, Kiangan, Ifugao in 2002 and Ifugao province in 2014. (JDP/MAWC – PIA CAR) Maria Aprila Cruz
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- Category: Region CAR
The consistent reduction of under nutrition among the pre-schoolers and sustaining its best nutrition practices the municipality of Alfonso Lista in Ifugao deserved its recognition as best nutrition implementer in the Cordillera region.
After garnering the highest Monitoring and Evaluation of Local Level Plan Implementation (MELLPI) score of 98 percent, the Regional Nutrition Committee of the Cordillera Region awarded to them the Regional Green Banner Award and for being a three termer regional green banner awardee, the municipality will received a crown award and cash prize of P500,000.00 on October 29, 2015 by NNC National at Philippine International Convention Center.
The Saluad Salun-at Council of Alfonso Lista has Sustained its best nutrition practices as evidenced by the consistent reduction of under nutrition over the past three years in their locality.
The MELLPI recognized their effort in reducing the 3.53 percent under nutrtion rate among preschooler in 2012 to 1.62 percent in 2014.
The Municipal Nutrition Council were very supportive in the various project of the National Nutrition Council like the “Taskforce on Malnutrition Reduction” which ensures the identification of families with undernourished children and employed the sustainable intervention to address the problem.
Their Gulayan SA Bakuran program benefited 28 schools and 307 families with underweight children in 27 schools and 47 day care centers.
Other strategies implemented by their nutrition council are the operation ngiti for oral hygiene and health , the Kubeta Para sa Masa sanitary toilets were distributed to the Poso mo para Sa Kalusugan mo which provided 101 families in far flung sitios with clean water supply.
The other municipalities who received the Green Award during the awarding ceremony last October 15 with most outstanding performance in nutrition program implementation are the municipality of Bauko in Mt. Provincem, Balbalan in Kalinga and the municipality of Tublay in Benguet province.
The province of Benguet also received its 2nd year Green Banner Award in the provincial category and a potential CROWN awardee next year if they will meet the performance score in the MELLPI, while in the city category, the award goes to the city of Baguio for its trailblazer implementation of nutrition program.
Regional Nutrition Program Coordinator Ms. Rita D. Papey expresses her gratitude to all the awardees for this year.
“Thank you for working hard to ensure that every child receives adequate food and nutrition may your tribe increase.” Papey added.
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- Category: Region CAR
In coordination with the Provincial Committee chaired by Hon. Governor Elias K. Bulut Jr. of Apayao, the Regional Nutrition Council of CAR held nutrition forum last March 21 and 23 at Lower and Upper Apayao respectively. These were attended by some members of the local nutrition committees at all levels including all the barangay nutrition scholars and some barangay health workers.
Main objective of the forum is to draw more support and draw commitment from local officials and implementers to the nutrition program through the formulation and implementation of Local Nutrition Action Plans to improve their nutrition status.
In his keynote address, during the forum in Lower Apayao composed of 5 municipalities (Calanasan, Luna, Pudtol, Flora and Sta. Marcela), Hon. Vice Governor Hector Reuell Pascua acknowledged the importance of nutrition and challenged the participants not to take for granted programs and projects geared to improving the health of the people. The forum in Upper Apayao composed of the municipalities of Kabugao and Conner was graced by the governor's representative, Mr. Rosario Labueng Jr. with Conner's Municipal Administrator, Mr. Esteban Daligdig.
Maximizing the conduct of the activity, cluster BNS Congress was held in the afternoon to further empower the Barangay Nutrition Scholars in the delivery of basic services. Impressions from the participants express their utmost appreciation and gratitude for such event and wish that it will be done annually.
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- Category: Region CAR
The Regional Nutrition Committee (RNC) encourages local government units in the Cordillera to organize breastfeeding support groups to strengthen the implementation of the infant and young child feeding program.
The RNC formalized their call to LGUs through a resolution.
Nutrition Officer III Bella Basalong said the program aims to improve the health and nutritional status of infants and young children through appropriate breastfeeding and complementary feeding and contribute to the reduction of infant and child mortality and morbidity.
One of the strategies in promoting the program in the community is the organization of breastfeeding support groups as specified in the Philippines infant and child feeding program strategic plan of action for 2011-2016, Basalong said.
A breastfeeding support group is composed of peer counselors organized in the community or other settings such as workplace to provide support either to individual or groups of pregnant women and mothers with children zero to two years old in the form of individual or group counseling, wet nursing, child minding and other practical help to enable the adoption of appropriate infant and child feeding practices.
The breastfeeding support group will also identify target mothers and children, conduct home visits, counsel mothers or caregivers, and refer mothers needing clinical management or treatment.
Basedon the 2011 Family Health Survey conducted by the National Statistics Office, nearly half of mothers in the Cordillera or 49.2 percent of mothers are exclusively breastfeeding their babies. Though it is the highest among all regions, the percentage is still low, Basalong said. Maria Aprila W. Cruz.
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- Category: Region CAR
A student tandem from Ifugao, studying at the University of Baguio, led the winners of the regional recipe development contest led by the National Nutrition Council-CAR last April 30, 2012. The contest, held at the Benguet State University, was anchored on the theme, “Pagkain ng Gulay Ugaliin, Araw-araw Itong Ihain!”
The recipe called “Pako Eggplant Roll” prepared by Kristine Mae Danao and Gemma Lyn Bulayo won the P10,000 first prize. The recipe costs less than P70. Its ingredients included pako (local fern), carrots, tomatoes, eggplant, eggs, onions, and garlic.
The P8,000 second prize went to “Sinigtiman na Gulay”, with ingredients costing only P54, prepared by Maria Calay of Barangay Bunga of Tadian, Mountain Province. The recipe’s ingredients include cadios, gabi, camote tops, onion leaks, string beans, and corn.
The third top recipe was “Kinalot” by Fortunata Lang-et of Barangay Tue, Tadian, Mt. Province which won her P6,000. Its main ingredients are sapsapon leaves, alalwad (polpollot), gabi (taro), camote tops, ginger, aw-aw (locally prepared fermented sauce made of ground rice and river crabs or pork), which costs about P50.
The winners were chosen by a panel of judges composed of nutritionists from Benguet State University, Benguet General Hospital, and University of the Cordilleras.
The winning entries will be included in a recipe book which will be printed for distribution to the beneficiaries of the government’s Pantawid Pamilya Pilipino Program. It is eyed for completion and distribution by July in time for the Nutrition Month celebration.
NPC June P. Falancy said the NNC received 70 entries which were evaluated by the members of the screening committee composed of BSU Prof. Imelda Degay, Ms. Marcia Espinueva of DSWD, Ms. Pepita Picpican of DOST and Ms. Falancy of NNC.
The activity aimed to develop delicious, nutritious, low cost, and easy to prepare food. It showcased innovative ways of preparing traditional recipes in the region.
By: Maria Aprila Cruz, RTAN Member, PIA-CAR
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- Category: Region CAR
Training on Nutrition in Emergencies(NiE) and Infant and Young Child (IYCF-E) was held at Summer Place Hotel, Baguio City last October 10-15, 2011. This was led by Health Emergency Management Staff-Department of Health (HEMS-DOH) in which they are committed in making the entire country prepared for any disaster and emergencies. This training aims to position NDs, Nutrition Program Managers, and Nutrition Cluster Members working in emergencies on the same level of knowledge and understanding of nutrition in emergency- addressing vulnerabilities in multi-hazard situations, be it natural or human induced, and even in the setting of complex emergencies.
The was participated by the National Nutrition Council-CAR, Nutrition Action Officers (NAOs) and District Nutrition Program Coordinator (DNPCs) from four provinces in CAR (specifically the Province of Apayao, Kalinga, Ifugao and Mt. Province) and Nutritionist- Dietitians (NDs) from the different Regional Line Agencies (RLAs) (specifically from DSWD, DepEd, NNC and RHTTP-CHD). Within the six- day training, participants were expected to produce NiE & IYCF-E Management Plan for their respective LGUs including plans for future conduct of trainings and participants from RLAs were obliged to be trainers as invited in the conduct of trainings. It is also expected that participants can demonstrate competence in assessing nutritional status, administering standards and appropriate nutrition interventions for emergencies and disasters and monitoring and evaluating activities conducted and services rendered. In addition, participants after the training could demonstrate competence in planning, leading & controlling the implementation of NiE interventions/ activities, implement a capacity building program/ activity & can demonstrate proactive attitude towards nutrition in emergencies.
