Legazpi City. National Nutrition Council Bicol attended the Closing Ceremony of the EMBRACE Project (Enhance Mother/ newborn/ child health in Remote Areas through health care and Community Engagement) of Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) held at DOH Region V today, 16 March 2020. With the ultimate goal of contributing to the reduction of Maternal and Child Mortality, Project Manager Lovely Joy Alvar presented the accomplishments of the implementation within 4 years in Calabanga, San Jose, Presentacion, and Garchitorena, Camarines Sur addressing the 3 delays model: decision to seek care, reaching care, and receiving adequate health care.

The project included nutrition-specific programs such as Community-based Management of Acute Malnutrition, Infant and Young Child Feeding, Positive Deviance Hearth, and Cooking Demonstrations and nutrition-sensitive programs such as Water, Sanitation, Hygiene (WASH), Learning Through Play and Making Meal Times Matter, Kitchen Gardening, School-based Crop Museum, and Provision of Chickens for egg production. The presence of Project EMBRACE in 4 LGUs brought about the behavior change in the community in terms of health and nutrition and resulted to increase in facility-based delivery, improvement of hygiene practices, and reduction of malnutrition prevalence. (NO I Loveres/NO III Valeza)