The Department of Science and Technology – Food and Nutrition Research Institute (DOST-FNRI) conducted a virtual dissemination meeting on the results of the 2019 Expanded National Nutrition Survey (ENNS) in Marinduque province held on 22 October 2020. It aimed to provide relevant data concerning health and nutrition situation at the provincial level that may serve as the basis for crafting local nutrition action plans.
According to the 2019 ENNS, 6 out of 10 (56.5%) household in Marinduque experienced acute food insecurity. It was evident among poor wealth households with more than 5 members in the family.
Disaggregated data for all age groups were also shared during the activity. For infant and young children, the prevalence of underweight (19.1%) and stunting (28.6%) were both of medium public health significance in the province, whereas every 2 out of 10 school-age children were underweight (25.3%) and stunted (20.1%). The prevalence of stunting result remains to be high. For the adolescent age group, 3 out of 10 (26.0%) were stunted while 2 of 10 were wasted (16.0%) and majority of the adolescents were physically inactive (83.0%). The province is experiencing the double burden malnutrition for the province is having emerging concern on overnutrition because of its increasing prevalence rate and high rate of stunted children.
As for women of reproductive age, 2 out of 10 (22.7%) were nutritionally-at-risk, while for non-pregnant/ non-lactating (27.5%) and lactating women (19.6%), overnutrition had an increase in prevalence rate. On the other hand, results for adults and elderly showed that the prevalence of chronic energy deficiency resulted with having higher prevalence rate. While for overnutrition, overweight (24.1%) and obesity (6.2%) among adults were more common among female although for elderly, overweight was significantly lower than the national estimate.
As a response to these results, NNC MIMAROPA provided a call to action which was delivered by NPC Eileen B. Blanco. She mentioned the importance of ensuring that all programs, projects, and activities to be implemented in the province should be aligned with the Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition 2017-2022 and integrated in the annual investment plan (AIP) to guarantee that budgets were allocated. NPC Blanco also shared the benefits of having a strong advocacy on the First 1000 Days to focus on the recurring problem of stunting not only in the province. Furthermore, NPC Blanco encourages active case finding of moderate acute and severe acute malnutrition cases. For overweight population, promoting healthy lifestyle through having physical activity and healthy diet from childhood to adulthood is a must.
NPC Blanco stated that as the country transitions and adapt to the new normal brought about COVID-19 pandemic, NNC MIMAROPA should keep on pushing on with its advocacies in integrating nutrition in all aspects and achieve its goal in battling against stunting and all forms of malnutrition. NPC Blanco closes her call to action with her quote “Let us work together as one region. Kagaya nga sabi ng nutrition theme ngayong taon, tayong lahat, sama all!”. (AVETPatriarca)
