The National Nutrition Council Region III organized a whole day Barangay Nutrition Scholars Reorientation and Technical Updates Session in its 7 provinces and 14 cities. This was attended by the major prime movers of PPAN at the city and municipality level particularly the Nutrition Action Officers (NAO) and the Barangay Nutrition Scholars (BNSes). The reorientation’s primary aim is to provide a review on existing and revised guidelines and protocols on the conduct of OPT, MELLPI as well as the Barangay Nutrition Program. It focuses on the need to reorient BNSes regarding the BNS program and provide technical updates to address the existing gaps, issues and concerns of nutrition program implementation in the region. The activity was conducted from one province to another with the following schedules:  November 17, 2014 (Pampanga), November 18, 2014 (Bulacan), November 20, 2014 (Bataan), November 21, 2014 (Tarlac), November 26, 2014 (Nueva Ecija), November 27, 2014 (Aurora) and November 28, 2014 (Zambales).

The topics presented during the reorientation are the review on the Operation Timbang (OPT) Plus guidelines, presentation of the 2014 OPT results, provision of updates on the OPT Plus and Mid-Upper Arm Circumference (MUAC) measurements in relation with the call of 2014 Nutrition Month theme to heighten Nutrition in Emergency Preparedness. Similarly,  discussions and clarifications on issues and concerns related to the Monitoring and Evaluation of Local Level Plan Implementation (MELLPI) were done. The technical updates capped the activity with the presentation of the latest materials on the promotion of Good Nutrition such as the “Pinggang Pinoy” and the new Nutritional Guidelines for Filipinos 30-seconder infomercials - the 10 Kumainments.              

Participants of the reorientation are expected to cascade or echo the information and updates down to their BNSes in preparation to next year’s nutrition program management and implementation. The NNC Region III facilitators encouraged the BNSes and NAOs to extend needed efforts to meet higher OPT coverage so as to see the real state of nutrition in Central Luzon. Through the NNC Regional Office’s  and LGU’s collaborated efforts geared towards the effective implementation of the different nutrition programs, Central Luzon will have a better…fresh start for the year 2015 and the next years to come.