Valenzuela City -- In 2009, the prevalence rate of undernutrition among preschool children was at 4.15%. Baseline school weighing of day care children revealed a 15.6% prevalence rate of undernutrition. These figures alarmed former Mayor and now Senator Sherwin T. Gatchalian. He immediately instructed for the revitalization of the City Nutrition Committee (CNC). He believed that the CNC should be first made active and functional in order to efficiently plan measures to reduce the malnutrition rate in the city. The CNC went to work immediately and conducted a thorough assessment of the nutrition situation and identified those affected by malnutrition, how many they are, their location and the causes of malnutrition. All these data helped the CNC in deciding on the appropriate nutrition actions that will be implemented.
Under the leadership of then Mayor Sherwin Gatchalian, the Day Care Center (DCC) Supplementary Feeding Program was implemented. All day care children were given milk and nutrient-dense biscuits as well as vitamin supplements. The program established coordination and cooperation among the nutrition workers who supervised the feeding program, mothers/ caregivers who prepared the food and the nutrition worker who monitored the weight of the children.
The CNC partnered with Ateneo Center for Educational Development (ACED) to enhance the feeding program. In addition to day care children, the supplementary feeding program also included kinder up to grade 6 pupils. The DCC supplementary feeding program was renamed to K-to-6 Feeding Program. The enhanced feeding program was continued by the former Congressman and incumbent Mayor Rex Gatchalian. The city government established a Central Kitchen where safe and nutritious foods are prepared everyday by volunteer workers. The meals prepared in the Central Kitchen are then delivered to all the Day Care Centers and public elementary schools in the city.
In 2010, Medical Nutrition Program Coordinator Dr. Bernadette Bordador initiated the Community-Based Malnutrition Rehabilitation Program. She trained all the city Nutritionist-Dietitians (NDs) and Barangay Nutrition Scholars (BNSs) on the use of an Oil-Milk-Sugar (OMS) Formulation for the rehabilitation of cases of severe acute malnutrition without complications. The formulation is similar to the ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) F75 or F100 formula of the World Health Organization (WHO). Following the WHO protocol and with cooperation of parents/caregivers the improvement and survival rates of beneficiaries were notably significant.
Recognizing the importance of exclusive breastfeeding in preventing child malnutrition, the local nutrition committees at the city and barangay levels intensified their Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) Program. Twenty four (24) barangay councils provided funds for the community-based trainings on IYCF. The trainings resulted to an increase in the number of active and functional breastfeeding support groups. To date, there are over three hundred active BFSGs in the city.
In 2015, the Nutrition Office conducted a city-wide Nutri-Lympics where five (5) to ten (10) overweight or obese preschoolers from each barangay participated in a Nutri or Kiddielympics conducted at the Ampitheatre of the Valenzuela City Peoples’ Park. A total of eighty-five (85) kids took part in this activity. They participated in various games designed to encourage physical activity and camaraderie among themselves. Prizes were fruit packs and simple tokens. Versions of this activity are conducted by the BNSs in their respective areas on a regular basis to prevent an increase in prevalence of overnutrition in this age group, thus preventing the possibility of them having lifestyle diseases later on.
To improve further the nutrition situation and sustain the gains of the CNC in its fight against malnutrition, Mayor Rexlon T. Gatchalian funded the construction of 3S (Sentro ng Sama-samang Serbisyo) Centers in most of the barangays in the city. The centers are one-stop shop of government services for the residents in the barangays including health and nutrition services.
Another priority nutrition program of Mayor Gatchalian is the promotion of home and community food production. The nutrition workers put up vertical vegetable gardens in all the 3S centers. Indigent families and those with malnourished children as well as volunteers in the centers benefit from the produce of the vegetable gardens. The CNC also conducts the Annual Home, School and Community Vegetable Garden contest since 2013. Barangay Balangcas, under the leadership of Barangay Captain and BNC Chair Ricardo De Guzman, is a Hall of Fame Awardee in this contest. As the city’s model barangay in organic farming, the DOST donated a total of Php 935,000 worth of shredder, bio-reactor, and a vinegar acetator used for organic gardening. The barangay now earns income from the sale of “garden soil”, herbs and other vegetables grown in their vegetable garden cum Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) for organic materials providing income to the volunteers working in the facility.
A healthy lifestyle program for the city hall employees was spearheaded by the health and nutrition office in 2015. A total of 237 participants composed of traffic enforcers and sidewalk clearing operations group participated in the regular nutrition or diet counselling sessions, medical management (for participants with hypertension, diabetes, or other cardiovascular problems) and series of intensive and regular physical activity such as jogging, basketball and Zumba. At the end of the program, the percentage of participants with normal weights increased from 21.5% to 54%.
Another innovative approach used by the nutrition office in doing the Operation Timbang (OPT) Plus is the “OPT stickering” to easily identify malnourished preschoolers’ households and track the coverage of OPT. The OPT sticker indicate the number of preschool children with normal, underweight and overweight nutritional status in the household. Like the census stickers of the NCSO, the sticker is placed in a conspicuous place in the house, preferably near the entrance and where they will not be easily damaged by rain and other harmful elements. The stickering made it easy to identify the households that have been covered by the OPT Plus.
All these interventions along with the PPAN impact programs contributed to the nutrition improvement in the city. The prevalence rate of undernutrition among preschool children decreased from 3.89% in 2010 to 1.54% in 2015. Overweight prevalence also showed a steady decline from 2.40% in 2011 to 0.99% in 2015.
The CNC continues to strive to make their nutrition program relevant and responsive to the needs of their constituents especially the malnourished children and their families. They are bent on making their nutrition program planning and implementation more efficient to bring about significant reduction in all forms of malnutrition in the city.
- VALENZUELA CITY -
2015 OUTSTANDING LGU IN NUTRITION PROGRAM MANAGEMENT - First Runner Up
Special Award: Best in Program Effectiveness and Most Innovative LGU
