Puerto Princesa City – The Department of Health, National Nutrition Council, Zuellig Family Foundation (ZFF), Nutrition International in partnership with Puerto Princesa City launched its Bida ang mga Buntis at Bata sa Barangay (4B) Program last 17 January 2020 held at the City Coliseum which primarily aimed to highlight the role of the barangays in addressing malnutrition in the First 1000 Days and ensure commitment of other key stakeholders. Gracing the event were DOH-CHD Assistant Regional Director Dr. Vilma Diez, Mayor Lucilo Bayron, Vice Mayor Nancy Socrates, DILG City Director Virgilio Tagle, ZFF Deputy Director Ramon Derigue and NNC NPC Ma. Eileen B. Blanco. Also present were Barangay Captains and Councils, members of the City Nutrition Committee (CNC), City Health Office personnel, Barangay Nutrition Scholars (BNSs) and Barangay Health Workers.
Puerto Princesa City is one among the three (3) selected pilot areas of the First 1000 Days by Zuellig Family Foundation (ZFF) and Nutrition International (NI) for the project on “ Improving City Nutrition Governance for the First 1000 Days to develop a governance model on urban nutrition systems for mothers, children and adolescents in the Philippines for 2020-2022. Pilot areas are Tagum City, Tacurong City and Puerto Princesa City.
The goals of this program is to (1) reduce the incidence of malnutrition (stunting and wasting) in the city; (2) no repeat the incidence of malnutrition among rehabilitated malnourished children; (3) ensure the availability of needed medicines and nutrition commodities at the satellite clinics; (4) incorporate family values in all programs of the city government; and (5) set up a nutrition referral system: CHO for medical and nutrition-specific interventions, CSWD for social safety nets, Agriculture for food security, PESO for livelihood, among others–a holistic approach in addressing malnutrition.
“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” Mayor Lucilo Bayron stressed during his opening message emphasizing the importance of preventive medicine. Further, he added that investment on the prevention side of malnutrition or diseases is much lower than on the curative stage. With his strong desire to fight malnutrition in the city, Mayor Bayron allotted 200 million budget for the City Health Office. This is to enhance the capacity of the City Health Office through construction of a fully equipped new city health building, hiring of 1,000 additional volunteer health workers including hiring of physicians to ensure the presence of physicians in every satellite clinic.
Mayor Bayron also emphasized the need to focus on the First 1000 days, “it is a golden window of opportunity. “Maliit ang gastos pero malaki ang magiging impact” as he stated, thus the need for teamwork at all levels is very important.
On the other hand, Vice Mayor Nancy Socrates challenged barangay officials to act now and help the barangay health and nutrition workers in addressing the problem of malnutrition. “Malnutrition remains a serious problem in the country, malnourished school children will be poor learners resulting to low productivity if not addressed,”
For better appreciation of the ECCD-F1K program, NPC Ma. Eileen Blanco of NNC MIMAROPA presented an overview of the ECCD-F1K programs. She explained recommended actions to attain optimum nutrition in the first 1000 days of life.
The activity was highlighted with the signing of the Declaration of Commitment for the First 1000 Days by all participants. The Declaration states that:
“I am a leader, fully aware of the health and nutrition problems of my community and of my country. I cannot stand by and allow the same problem to exist. I am a leader together with other collaborators, we shall create opportunities to work together in developing, pro-poor, gender and culturally sensitive programs to improve the health and nutrition outcomes of the Philippines. Together, we shall support the First 1000 Days initiative to promote and protect the health and welfare of the mothers and their children.” (BLVMEstrella/MEBBlanco)
