16 October 2021, Cagayan de Oro City — The National Nutrition Council (NNC) X holds a series of advocacy meetings in the Province of Lanao del Norte for the Tutok Kainan Dietary Supplementation Program (TK DSP), of which select local government units (LGUs) are recipients of Phases III & IV of the program.
NNC X, represented by Provincial Nutrition Focal Point (PNFP) Lizelle L. Bete and Nutrition Officer (NO) I Vazamija Therese A. Villasi, paid a visit to Local Chief Executives, Mayor Leoncio C. Bagol of LGU Tubod, and Mayor Judith V. Miquiabas of LGU Bacolod, Lanao del Norte.
PNFP Bete introduced and advocated the TK DSP, its objectives, components, priority groups, social preparation requirements and updates to the Municipal Mayors, Medical Health Officers and Nutrition Officers in the respective LGUs. In both LGUs, Nutritionist-Dietitians II Mitzilyn Brillo and Merry Glor Saure of the Department of Health accompanied NNC X.
During the fruitful dialogue, commitment and full support of the program were expressed especially by Municipal Mayor Bagol, wherein he conveyed his ambition to eradicate child malnutrition in their municipality by the end of the year. Furthermore, he added his concern that there are few Barangay Nutrition Scholar (BNS) in one of their program recipient barangays, and tasked the Medical Health Officer, Dr. Maria Filipina Camins and Municipal Nutrition Action Officer, Cholie Mae Lahoylahoy to propose additional number of BNSs to the Punong Barangay as one of the preparations for the upcoming implementation of TK DSP. A total of 170 children aged 6-23 months will receive the program in Tubod.
Moreover, in LGU Bacolod, Mayor Miquiabas pledged assistance and support to combat malnutrition among children of all ages in their municipality. She added that there are also on-going feeding activities from other nutrition programs in which she strongly supports. Relevant to this, she asked ND II Saure and Nutrition Coordinator Macalangan to continually encourage all the recipient mothers to attend all nutrition education programs in their municipality. ND II Saure also shared about the all-out support of the recipient barangay. She added that the Punong Barangay also committed to provide counterparts to the program.
As part of the social preparation activities of the TK DSP, NNC X will constantly and continually provide technical assistance to all LGUs under the program. More advocacy meetings with LCEs will be done in the near future to gather support for the TK DSP. (PNFP Lizelle Bete)
