TUGUEGARAO CITY------ Selected municipalities in the Province of Cagayan is set to pioneer the training and implementation of Family MUAC in region 02 as agreed during the virtual consultation meeting on 10 February 2021.

Family mid-upper arm circumference (Family MUAC) screening is a community screening approach which empowers mothers, caregivers, and other family members to screen their own children at home or in their community for acute malnutrition using standard MUAC tapes.

This is a result of a study in 2011, wherein the Alliance for International Medical Action (ALIMA) began studying the feasibility of training mothers to use mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) as a method to screen for malnutrition in Niger. This study addressed two recurring problems in nutrition programs: late diagnosis/presentation of children with moderate and severe acute malnutrition and coverage of 50%, only half of children in need of malnutrition treatment are reached.

Hence, with these pieces of evidence and limited number of health workers especially with the COVID-19 pandemic, UNICEF introduced the Family MUAC approach to be used in the Philippines to address also the same problems in the nutrition programs in the country.

As a result, NNC R02 and DOH R02 attended a Family MUAC virtual orientation on 05 February 2021 conducted by UNICEF. During this virtual orientation, UNICEF indentified municipalities of Enrile, Alcala, and Amulung in the Province of Cagayan as they were the areas affected by flood caused by Typhoon Ulysses in 2020.

Moreover, the Provincial Nutrition Office of Cagayan have agreed with the suggestion of UNICEF in the selection of municipalities to undergo Family MUAC training this first quarter of 2021.

“We are very thankful that three municipalities in our province are selected to be trained with the Family MUAC approach. This will ensure that acute malnutrition screening will improve once we start the roll out training,” shared by Ms. Marcia Ibañez, OIC-ND II-Province of Cagayan.

Ms. Nerissa Mabbayad, ND-IV-DOH R02, happily shared the positive acceptance of Province of Cagayan to be the pioneer of Family MUAC Approach in the region.

“As the lead implementor of PIMAM program in the country, the DOH Cagayan Valley  is glad that we will be using this approach in order to improve the nutrition monitoring in our region. We are thankful not only to the Province of Cagayan but also to NNC R02 in assisting us in the conduct of this roll out training,” said Ms. Mabbayad.

The roll out training is expected to start first quarter of 2021 once the consultation meeting with the selected municipalities will be conducted by late February or early March this year.###JNLB