Make way to Tutok Kainan: Dietary Supplementation Program for 6-23 months old children in the fight against the ever-growing stunting problem of our country. On the 22nd of March 2021, the National Nutrition Council Office conducted an emergency meeting with all NAOs for the data consolidation requirement. The meeting was headed by the Regional Nutrition Program Coordinator (RNPC) Nimfa D. Ekong together with Nutrition Officer III Elton N. Pelegrino, Provincial Nutrition Coordinator of Zamboanga del Norte Ms. Rowence F. Zorilla, Zamboanga del Sur Ms. Marie-Claire A. Gaas, and Nutrition Officer I Cielo Katrina M. Mabalot. The meeting was in line with the back-to-back implementation of Tutok Kainan: DSP for pregnant and for children. With this, it was participated by the different NAOs from Zamboanga del Norte and Zamboanga del Sur.
RNPC Ekong welcomed the participants and thanked them for their untiring support to the office. All with one goal in mind and that is to eliminate malnutrition among children in the community. The office of Sen. Aimee Marcos provided a hundred million funds specifically for this program. With the limited fund support that cannot accommodate all LGUs, only selected areas have been chosen to be included. Thus, there is the urgency in the consolidation of the data needed as the program was targeted to start two (2) months after the consolidation of the data giving a reason for the 4 months old children to be included in the collection of the data. The program will run for 180 days with the identified beneficiaries to be monitored by our BNS. RNPC Ekong also reminded the respective municipalities to submit the data as soon as possible to avail the program. The cities/municipalities included in their program from the Province of Zamboanga del Norte are: 1) Siayan; 2) Godod; 3) Mutia; 4) Sergio Osmenia; 5) Jose Dalman; 6) Katipunan; 7) La Libertad; 8) Roxas; 9) Polanco; 10) Rizal; 11) Pinan; 12) Sibutad; 13) Dapitan City; and 14) Dipolog City and from the Province of Zamboanga del Sur: 1) Labangan; 2) Lakewood; 3) San Pablo; 4) Sominot; 5) Tigbao; 6) Pitogo; 7) Tabina; 8) Dumalinao; 9) Dumingag; 10) Dimataling; 11) Josefina; 12) Ramon Magsaysay; 13) Tukuran; 14) Tambulig; and 15) Pagadian City.
It was also discussed by PNC-ZDS Gaas about the receiving, monitoring, documentation, and reporting of the commodities. All commodities received should be properly inspected by the receiving personnel considering the checklist before accepting the goods. For those expired commodities, they have a form to be filled up and take a photo to be attached before sending the report. For the consent/waiver monitoring tool which was discussed by PNC-ZDN Zorilla that each Municipality has its code and we need to wait for the beneficiaries code from the central office.
The meeting ended with NO III Pelegrino thanking everyone for giving their time to attend even with short notice and for their understanding in this time of urgency. Eradicating malnutrition was never an easy task but with the collaborative effort from everyone, together we can achieve the greater good.
NO II Joanna Marie E. Baltazar
