In line with the observance of the 46th Nutrition Month (NM) this year, the National Nutrition Council-Region III successfully held the Second Quarter Central Luzon Regional Nutrition Committee (CL-RNC) meeting on 30 June 2020. Combatting stunting was the main focus of the meeting, in line with the 2020 Nutrition Month theme “Batang Pinoy, SANA TALL . . . Iwas Stunting, SAMA ALL! Iwas ALL din sa COVID-19”.
Ms. Marilou Enteria, Nutrition Officer IV of the Nutrition Information and Education Division of the National Nutrition Council Central Office was invited as a resource person who gave an in-dept discussion as to why preventing and combatting stunting was the focus of this year’s nutrition month theme. She also presented the 2020 Nutrition Month objectives and what are the campaign’s aims which is to:
- raise awareness on the impact of stunting and evidence-based solutions among families and communities leading to change in behaviors to prevent stunting;
- stimulate national for increased investments in interventions; and
- generate concrete commitment and local (including communities) discourse on stunting to understand its causes and the multi-sectoral solutions among various stakeholders to scale-up nutrition actions.
During the meeting, it was emphasized that through the nutrition month campaign, the agency pushes for awareness in stunting which is not just a health issue, but overall, an economic issue and a high-level agenda, and all agencies are expected to be involved in the collaborative effort to effectively eradicate stunting in the country.
The meeting also gave way for the different member agencies of the region to share some of their accomplishments on CL-RNC resolutions, in which the Philippine Information Agency-Region III (PIA-Region III) proudly shared with the committee that health and nutrition has already been integrated in agency’s action plan. The National Economic and Development Authority-Regional Office 3’s (NEDA-RO3), on the other hand, invited a resource speaker to discuss topics about fad diets, established the workplace lactation station, among many others.
Two new CL-RNC resolutions were also moved for approval and adoption during the meeting, namely: 1) Creation of an Inter-Agency Task Force To Prevent Child Stunting In Central Luzon; and 2) Expanding the Membership of the Central Luzon Regional Nutrition Committee.
The Task Force Kontra Stunting is expected to convene soon to develop a strategic plan of action to address stunting in Central Luzon. The CL RNC Resolution No. 2 s 2020 on the expansion of membership aims to include the Department of Agrarian Reform in the committee as most of the agency’s nutrition-sensitive programs indicated in the Central Luzon Regional Plan of Action for Nutrition, 2019-2020 are contributory to addressing stunting and household food insecurity.
NNC’s Compendium of Local Nutrition Ordinances was also introduced to the member agencies during the meeting which aims to widely disseminate actual examples of effective local policies on nutrition in both print and digital publication, which can be publicly accessed by local governments and is a way to contribute to the overall effort on LGU mobilization for nutrition, as well, as the agency’s different LGU mobilization strategies, and the launching of the “Be Fit and Strong Challenge” contest which aims to reduce prevalence of over-nutrition among government employees in the region of Central Luzon via a weight loss contest where interested government employees may register to enter and will undergo regular assessment of nutritional status (waist circumference and waste hip ratio) to monitor weight increase or reduction and regular recording of risk to non-communicable diseases as basis for additional interventions, where the end goal is to have at least 10 per cent of contestants who are overweight and obese will achieve their normal weight by the end of 175 days.
At the end of the meeting, all present member agencies expressed their utmost commitment to cooperate with the NNC’s efforts to end stunting with various initiatives to scale up nutrition actions.
Author: Antonette Gail D. Garcia, Nutrition Officer I
