Mandaluyong City Mayor Carmelita A. Abalos and Muntinlupa City Mayor Jaime R. Fresnedi, two of the nutrition champions in Metro Manila, inspired the nutrition action officers (NAOs) with their messages during the 2nd NAOs’ Regional Conference held online on 23 September 2021. The virtual conference was attended by more than 200 NAOs from the barangays, cities, and municipality in the region. The two nutrition champions encouraged the NAOs to continue striving for the efficient and effective planning and implementation of nutrition programs of the Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition (PPAN). The PPAN is the country’s framework for nutrition improvement.
Mayor Abalos shared that the journey of Mandaluyong City in attaining excellence in their local PPAN implementation was long and difficult. Through perseverance, commitment, and cooperation of the members of their city and barangay nutrition committees and other partners, they were able to bag the most coveted Nutrition Honor Award (NHA) in 2016. The NHA is the highest award given by the National Nutrition Council to an LGU with consistent excellent performance in nutrition program management.
“Through our collective effort and innovative approaches, we were able to address the problems of hunger and malnutrition after assessing the causes of these problems thoroughly and understanding the nutrition situation”, explained Mayor Abalos. Their efforts resulted to the consistent decline in the prevalence of malnutrition in their city. Their city and barangay nutrition committees implemented comprehensive nutrition programs that benefitted malnourished children and their families.
“Nais kong ibahagi sa inyo na ang tagumpay ng lahat ng programa sa nutrisyon ay nakasalalay sa samahan at solidong pagtutulungan ng bawat Nutrition Action Officer at ng kanyang Mayor or Local Chief Executive. Ang ating pagkakaisa ay nananatiling mabisang sangkap upang magawa ang ating misyon na malabanan ang malnutrisyon, lalong lalo na ngayong panahon ng pandemya at krisis. Our glorious future is connected to what we have become and our journey to excellence, that started from a humble beginning”, Mayor Abalos added.
On the other hand, Muntinlupa City Mayor Jaime R. Fresnedi shared that part of their city’s vision is to have educated, healthy, and God-loving people. They strongly believe that having a healthy mind and strong body is important in producing productive citizens. They observed that the significant improvement in their city’s nutrition situation over the years was a result of the efficient and effective nutrition action planning of their city nutrition committee and their partners. He particularly mentioned the importance of allocating budget to PPAN nutrition programs, with particular focus on the First 1000 Days to preventing stunting and other forms of malnutrition. “Binigyan namin ng kaukulang pansin ang paglaan ng pondo at pagpasa ng mga polisiya upang maayos na maisagawa ang mga programang pangnutrisyon para tuloy-tuloy na makamit ang maayos na kalusugan at nutrisyon ng aming mamamayan”, explained Mayor Fresnedi. Muntinlupa City was a recipient of the Green Banner Award and Certificate of Quality Nutrition Program in 2018 and 2019, repectively.
Both Mayors believe that the awards of recognition they received from the NNC were made possible by the support and cooperation of their nutrition partners and various stakeholders in implementing PPAN-based nutrition programs. “Nawa ang mga ito ay magsilbing inspirasyon at panawagan na rin sa lahat na suportahan ang programa at serbisyong pangnutrisyon sa inyong mga lugar”, Mayor Fresnedi added. He also called for the support of all NAOs present in the virtual conference to continuously work to make nutrition a priority program of their city and barangays, and lobby for increased budgetary allocation for their implementation.
“Ngayong panahon ng pandemya, bukod sa pagbabakuna at patuloy na pagsunod sa minimum health standards, mabisang panlaban sa sakit ang mabuting nutrisyon at malusog na pangangatawan ng bawat miyembro ng pamilya. Sama-sama po natin ipatupad ang PPAN”, Mayor Fresnedi emphasized in his message.
The testimonies of these nutrition champions and great leaders who exemplify good governance in nutrition clearly showed that achieving nutrition improvement is no easy feat, but it is definitely possible. If all local chief executives as chairpersons of their respective nutrition committees will consider nutrition as part of good governance and exercise their political will in fighting hunger and malnutrition, we will have a good chance in winning the war against malnutrition.
The NAOs should be catalysts for nutrition improvement in their communities. The NAOs need to act now to fight malnutrition especially in these difficult times. Kailangan ang mga NAOs upang patuloy na mai-PPANalo ang nutrisyon sa mga barangay.
Written by
Nutrition Officer III Emerenciana L. Francia and
Regional Nutrition Program Coordinator Milagros Elisa V. Federizo
