The local nutrition clusters coordinated by the National Nutrition Council –NCR (NNC-NCR) took a step closer to its target of improving the reporting system during disasters and emergencies in the region.
In a meeting held on October 23, 2018 at the Center for Health Development – Metro Manila in Mandaluyong City, information management tools (Capacity mapping, 4Ws and NINA) to be used during disaster and emergencies were discussed. Local nutrition cluster coordinators from the fifteen (15) local government units in NCR namely Pasay, Pasig, Muntinlupa, Marikina, Makati, Parañaque, Taguig, San Juan, Valenzuela, Mandaluyong, Malabon, Las Piñas, Quezon City, Navotas, and Caloocan were present during the meeting. The meeting was presided by Regional Nutrition Program Coordinator Milagros Elisa. V. Federizo assisted by Nutrition Officer III Emerenciana L. Francia. The regional nutrition cluster is chaired by the NNC-NCR.
Capacity mapping is a tool to map nutrition cluster partners in the following areas: human resource capacities, supplies and services available. 4Ws tool is useful in providing a picture of the size and nature of the nutrition response; identifying gaps in the response to enable coordinated action; enabling referral by making information available about who is where, when, doing what. In addition to the tools, the Nutrition Initial Needs Assessment or NINA is a tool to provide a standard nutrition assessment for post emergency/disaster assessment at the barangay / municipality / city / province.
Moreover, during the meeting, the NNC – NCR provided the local nutrition clusters with two (2) pieces tarpaulin streamer to be used in displaying demographic information of affected families in the evacuation centers. The tarpaulin streamer will be used to ensure uniformity of data to be collected at the evacuation center during calamities/disasters.
In the same meeting, local nutrition cluster coordinators shared the status of organization as well as the functionality of their nutrition clusters. They also shared their experiences on nutrition responses provided during emergencies.
At the end of the meeting, the group agreed to be more alert on reporting the data needed particularly on the nutrition response during disasters and emergencies.
(ELF/NPC MEVF/NNC-NCR)
