July 29, 2020—The Province of Pangasinan through the Provincial Health and Nutrition Office successfully launched today the feeding program or the dietary supplementation program for pregnant women through a ceremonial turn-over of commodities in the 4 pilot areas of the Early Childhood Care and Development for the First 1000 Days.
The event which was spearheaded by the Provincial Government of Pangasinan through its Provincial Nutrition Committee was attended by the members of the Municipal/City Nutrition Council with strict observance to the minimum health standards to prevent possible spread of our present enemy- COVID-19.
The dietary supplementation program which was funded by the National Nutrition Council aims to provide additional nutritional intake among pregnant women beneficiaries to help them maintain their nutritional status and help their growing soon to be born child attain their optimum growth and development.
Dr. Anna Maria De Guzman said during the launching that with this timely implementation of the program considering the challenge now on food security, the gap in energy and nutrient intake of pregnant women will be addressed as well as the prevalence of low birth weight infants.
“All pregnant women who are on their 26th week of pregnancy, teenage pregnant and all nutritionally at-risk pregnant women are the beneficiaries of this program,” she added.
Food commodities distributed include the following: iron fortified rice, iodized salt, eggs, dilis, local fresh milk, monggo and vegetable oil.
Each target beneficiary will receive their ration weekly and the barangay nutrition committee through the rural health midwives, barangay nutrition scholars and barangay health workers with the supervision of the city/municipal nutrition office will ensure that the program will serve its purpose.
The provincial nutrition office and the regional office of the National Nutrition Council will also continue to provide technical assistance and conduct regular monitoring on the progress of the project.
With the 2020 Nutrition Month theme, Batang Pinoy SANA Tall, Iwas Stunting SAMA All, Iwas all din sa COVID-19, the National Nutrition Council encourages everyone to focus on the first 1000 days of life to ensure optimum growth and development among young children.
The first 1000 days of life is a critical stage where the foundation of development should be established thus proper nutrition of pregnant women should be ensured. Necessary nutrients needed should be provided sufficiently to meet the needs of the pregnant and the growing fetus.
All local government units are also enjoined to increase their investment in local nutrition programs particularly programs biased on the First 1000 Days of life.
Stunting rate in the country is still alarming and recent surveys showed low progress over the past years.
With the new and existing policy issuances which directly mandate the local government units to embrace nutrition as one of its priorities and with the strong commitment of our leaders, we are optimistic that significant results will be felt in the coming days, months and years. /HJAB
