On March 31, 2021, the Provincial Nutrition Coordinator under the NNC-IX, Ms. Marie-Claire A. Gaas, visited the Municipality of Lakewood with the District Nutrition Program Coordinator, Ms. Lea Ariza from the Provincial Nutrition Office, to conduct a courtesy call and introduction of oneself to the to the MNAO Designate, Mr. Stefano Menjid and DTTB Dr. Doreen P. Bosleng. She also visited the Municipality in response to the Health and Nutrition Implementers’ Meeting to discuss the overview of the Tutok Kainan: Dietary Supplementation Program, the forms to be used during the actual implementation and other matters. The meeting was attended by 8 Nurses (DOH-NDP), 15 Barangay Nutrition Scholars, 15 Barangay Health Workers and 1 MNAO designate.

The first agenda is the receipt of commodities. Consignees will send real time reports by sending SMS messages and pictures of commodities received to the system using designated numbers. She emphasized that required information should be separated with slash. (Date of receipt/Province/City/Municipalities/ Type of Commodity/Volume of Commodity/ Status of Delivery).

For the inspection of commodities, the authorized member of the inspection committee will also send a separate report upon inspection of the commodities via SMS message and picture of commodities received to the system using a designated number. The Format of the SMS message will be: Date of Inspection / Province / City or Municipality / Type of Commodity / Status of Commodity. 

Distribution of commodities by BNS will be reported in real time via text message to be sent to the system using designated numbers. The Format of the SMS message will be: Date of Distribution / Province / City or Municipality / Number of Barangays given / Number of Pregnant Women given / Number of Food Packs distributed / Type of Food given. PNC Gaas also informed the members of the health team that there will be a profiling feature for the individual beneficiaries to ease in the SMS reporting of the BNSs. During the Day 0 of the dietary supplementation (or during social preparation of barangays), BNSs can record complete information of the beneficiaries through the monitoring form.

Type of Commodity Received can be reported through full texts or assigned codes. For the Nutrition assessment, it will be done during profiling- no need for the BNS to individually report nutrition assessment information through SMS. For the follow up weights of pregnant women, it will be reported by the BNS at the 30th, 60th, and 90th day of feeding. The information required are: Date of Weighing, Beneficiary number, Weight (in kg) at Day 30, Day 60 and Day 90 and Nutritional status. The format of the SMS message will be: Date of Weighing/beneficiary number/ Kg [30, 60, 90]/ nutritional status.

Real-time reports on recipient, inspection, and distribution of commodities, and actual feeding will be sent directly to the system via SMS. For the monitoring of implementation, real-time reports from the BNS will be received directly at the NNC Central Office. Daily, weekly, and monthly summaries, by barangay, by municipality/city, by province and national will be generated, to determine if the targets are being met. PNC Gaas also informed the participants to secure consent forms to be given to the beneficiaries before the start of the DSP.

In the Barangay level, PNC Gaas further elaborate the monitoring template to be used, which is the Annex 2 Form 1. She also discussed each column for better understanding. For the columns with the specific number of days, the BNS must mark (1) if the Pregnant women ate the food/ meals during the feeding date; Mark (0) if partial consumption; Leave blank if the pregnant woman did not eat at all. This form must be accomplished daily for this will be reflected in the municipal and provincial monitoring template.

Each barangay must also accomplish an inventory form for the commodities/ goods received for the DSP. PNC Gaas also explained how to fill out each column. PNC Gaas also mentioned that in cases when the pregnant woman delivers during the duration of feeding, BNSs should report the required information needed such as the date of delivery, beneficiary number, place of delivery and the weight of child. Feeding for the mother will still be continued until Day 90 to support lactation.

Lastly, DNPC Ariza reviewed the accomplishment forms of the BNS and BHWs. Emphasizing the importance of filling out the forms with the necessary information needed. 

PNC-ZDS Marie Claire A. Gaas