In the continuous search for ways to alleviate the malnutrition problem in the region, the regional offices of Department of Health (DOH) and National Nutrition Council (NNC) partnered to find better solutions to target the nutritional problems of priority areas in the region.

During the 1^st Joint Meeting of the Nutrition Action Officers’ Association of the Philippines (NAOPA), Inc. – MiMaRoPa Chapter, District/City Nutrition Program Coordinators’ Association of the Philippines (D/CNPCAP), Inc. – MiMaRoPa Chapter, and Federation of Barangay Nutrition Scholars in Region IV-B (FBNS IV-B) held last January 27, 2017 at St. Giles Hotel, Makati, Ms. Perla Supnet, Nutritionist-Dietitian IV of DOH MiMaRoPa presented the DOH Strategic Framework on Nutrition 2014-2025. This framework aims to achieve the vision of having empowered healthy and well-nourished Filipino families by the year 2025 through partnership and alignment of strategic actions and exertion of collective and unified efforts of the DOH with other agencies which plays valuable role in the improvement of nutrition.

The specific objectives which are aimed to be achieved by the year 2025 are the following:

1. Achieve a 50% reduction in anemia in women of reproductive age;
2. Achieve a 30% reduction of the number of infants born with low birth weight;
3. Increase to at least 50% the rate of exclusive breastfeeding in the first 6 months of life;
4. Reduce and maintain childhood wasting to less than 5%;
5. Reduce by 40% the number of children under age 5 who are stunted;
6. Ensure that there is no increase in the number of children and adults who are overweight/ obese;
7. Reduce the exposure of population to risks (smoking, physical inactivity and inadequate nutrition) related to NCDs (Hypertension, Diabetes, Dyslipidemia); and
8. Reduce micronutrient deficiencies below public health significance

Moreover, the significant number of Indigenous Peoples (IPs) in the region is now looked into further due to their contribution to the overall malnutrition prevalence of the municipality, province, and region. Regional Director Eduardo C. Janairo of DOH MiMaRoPa through Ms. Supnet is now building strategic actions to locate and evaluate the IPs’ to be able to identify high risk individuals in the priority areas. This is to better allocate the resources, such as ready to eat supplementary food (RUSF), ready to eat therapeutic food (RUTF), and supplementary/direct feeding, to most needy individuals in the priority areas.

On the other hand, NNC MiMaRoPa is expected to assist DOH in the monitoring and adoption of the framework and to provide technical assistance on its implementation. Using the results of the 2016 Operation Timbang Plus (OPT+) consolidated by the NNC, the priority areas with highest prevalence of underweight/severely underweight and stunted/severely stunted per province were identified. To further involve the priority municipalities and to jumpstart the collective action with the agencies and local government units (LGUs), meetings with the municipalities with highest malnutrition prevalence rates (MPR) per province are currently being participated by Ms. Supnet since last February. Strategic actions were already discussed with the Municipal Nutrition Committee (MNC) of Aborlan, the second municipality in Palawan to have the highest MPR (15.16 percent). During the meeting, Barangay Sagpangan and Barangay Cabigaan were identified as the target Indigenous People (IP) communities in Aborlan for the program. Next to this, Ms. Supnet will also have a meeting with the MNC of Abra de Ilog, Occidental Mindoro, the municipality with highest MPR prevalence (23.16%) in the province and in the region, as well as the Provincial Health Officers of Oriental Mindoro to identify the target municipality in the province with high MPR and less saturated with nutrition interventions. For Abra de Ilog, target barangays with highest prevalence of MPR and also have significant IP population include Sta. Maria, Udalo, and Lumangbayan. On the other hand, the target municipality for Oriental Mindoro is the municipality of Socorro, with Barangay Bugtong na Tuog and Barangay Fortuna as the priority barangays for direct feeding.

This participation in the meetings with the major players in nutrition in the different provinces is an effort to better identify target municipalities and barangays for the upcoming direct feeding to be conducted by the DOH. These actions are part of the continuous effort of the DOH, NNC, other regional line agencies, as well as the LGUs and stakeholders, to properly address the malnutrition situation in the region to be able to produce more efficient and effective results for the welfare of the MiMaRoPans.