National Nutrition Council Region II represented by Nutrition Program Coordinator Maria Gisela Lonzaga, Nutrition Officer III Edzell Arcinue, Nutrition Officer II John Nestor Ballad and Nutrition officer II Frances Vea Valdez, providedtechnical assistance in the 2023-2025 LNAP Planning Workshop for the Province of Nueva Vizcaya and the 15 LGUs.

Participating in the planning workshop, coordinated by District Nutrition Program Coordinator Luzviminda P. Ragpa under the direction of Dr. Edwin B. Galapon, Chief of the Provincial Integrated Health Office (PIHO) and concurrent Provincial Nutrition Action Officer (PNAO), were Nutrition Officers from the fifteen component municipalities of the province.

The workshop was designed to achieve the following objectives:

• to be aware of the trends in nutritional status over the three-year period, per municipality, province, and region;
• to identify good practices and innovations in nutrition program management for replication and scaling up;
• to look into the adjustments made by LGUs in the implementation of local nutrition programs consistent with the updated Medium-Term Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition (MTPAN);
• to tackle 2022 plan implementation issues and concerns that are in need of policy and programmatic updating; and
• to identify objectives, priority actions, priority groups, and enabling mechanisms for the PNAP and MNAPs of the province’s fifteen component LGUs.

The topics discussed were the following:

• OPT Result 2019-2021
• Annual Accomplishment and strength/weaknesses
• Formulating the Nutrition Situation analysis
• Inclusion of Nutrition in the Priority Development Challenges
• Defining projects and activities to achieve outcome targets
• Estimating budgets for nutrition PPAs and Demonstrating of Costing Template
• Integration of LNAP to PDIP/AIP of LGUs
• LNAP Budget Year Estimated for LGUs
• Workshop: LGU Budgeting and LNAP Formulation

PNO Ragpa said that the task of Nutrition Officers and the local governments, in general, has become more challenging in view of the full devolution of basic services and facilities, including those pertaining to health and nutrition, from the national government to local government units (LGUs) which begins this year’, emphasizing on the importance and urgency of the activity.

The programs, projects, and activities of the PIHO’s Nutrition Division fall under the (H)ealth Services component of the PRAYERS N FAITH platform of governance under the administration of Governor Carlos M. Padilla, who also serves as Chairman of the Provincial Nutrition Committee.###FRANCES VEA VALDEZ