Ms. Leonor R. Rabino
The initiative of the Local Government Unit of Dipolog in promoting the well-being of the community through the promotion, provision and the delivery of good nutrition program and projects have gained solid ground in the City when it committed its discipline to address hunger and malnutrition among pre-school children, school children and nutritionally-at-risk pregnant women, as a way of life.
Dipolog is situated in the Northwestern part of the Province of Zamboanga del Norte, Philippines and is a sprawling metropolis covering 13,628 hectares. It is the capital component city of Zamboanga del Norte and is composed of twenty-one barangays with an estimated population of 140,000 in 2018. The city has diverse cultures due to its migrants from Luzon, Visayas and the Mindanao Region, where it is located.
Dipolog City became the regional epitome in the promotion, provision and enforcement of nutritional well-being programs in Region 9, when it seriously took its stand to commit in reduction if not eradicating hunger and malnutrition of identified children 0-59 years old, schoolchildren and pregnant women, as it adopted various initiatives and integrating into its nutrition program support projects coming from its stakeholders, the religious and civic-oriented organizations from the community, that earned the local government the Green Banner Award and the Regional Outstanding Nutrition Action Officer Award by the National Nutrition Council IX in 2017 and 2018. Previous years also showed Dipolog City as consistent awardee not only of its nutrition program in the regional level but also in other programs at the national level.
The Local Government Unit of Dipolog recognizes that a healthy citizenry starts from a well-nutritional pregnant mother and the young generation of the city are the most valuable resources and best hope for the future. With the consolidated nutritional programs implemented geared towards nurturing the young minds, the local government believes that it will attain the highest standard of productive citizens.
Quantifiable interventions have been put in place: a relevant Annual City Nutrition Action Plan, Nutrition Annual Investment Plan, Gender and Development Plan and Budget, Funding Support for the city’s nutrition program, Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition, Functional Barangay Nutrition Committees with full support coming from the Punong Barangays, Mandatory Food Fortification, Income Generating Projects of Barangay Nutrition Scholars through Iodized Salt-making, establishment of Lactation Station, conduct of side activities in observance of Nutrition Month by barangays and capability building of nutrition personnel have propelled the city to sustain its various nutrition related programs.
Reinforcing these various programs, funding support for the nutrition program has been maximized. With over a half million-peso budget from previous years funding, it increased to over P2.04 million in 2018 – a consolidated funding assistance from the General fund, Sangguniang Panlungsod, Office of the City Agriculturist, City Health Office, City Social Welfare & Development Office, the private sector, and the National Nutrition Council.
“There is also nothing more inspiring than having a dedicated, unified and zealous people working continuously for the promotion of nutrition as a way of life”, according to Mayor Darel Dexter T. Uy. The people of Dipolog have heart, passion, and determination. It is really the ordinary people who truly make a difference.
From the previous 1.09% prevalence of underweight children 0-59 months old in 2014, it tremendously reduced to 0.44% prevalence of underweight in 2018. This is only a fraction of the city’s notable performance in addressing hunger and malnutiriton.
Equally important activities to sustain the city’s nutrition program are the regular schedules of supplemental feeding coming from the LGU, DepEd, Jollibee’s Busog-Lusog Project, Zamboanga del Norte Federation of Parent’s Association (ZNFePa) – a ChildFund Project, Lihok Bata Foundation, the local PNP, International Care Ministries, Children’s Values School through the Pagtinabangay Foundation, and the DSWD. Other activities include the Home, School and Food Production, Micronutrient Supplementation, Food Assistance and complementary feeding, Nutrition Education through Mother’s Class, organized IYCF (Infant Young Child Feeding) peer counsellors, Mother & Child Care, Breastfeeding promotion and livelihood skills training and livelihood assistance.
Focusing on the children’s health and well-being, the LGU continues to be guided by the balancing act theory of seeking the good of the majority over the interest of the few. As Dipolog City grows, it has not set aside its desire of becoming a healthy city, for it is in Dipolog that effective government and responsible citizenship have become keywords in governance (making governance a shared responsibility).
That is why, programs for the health and well-being of the young generation of Dipolog is work in progress – a challenge to attain higher standards and to cross barriers between tradition and innovation, with the child’s best interest in mind.
