30 November 2021, Cagayan de Oro City – The Phase I of Tutok Kainan Dietary Supplementation Program (TK DSP) successfully completed the 90 days implementation to the eight (8) recipient local government units (LGUs) and 3,382 pregnant women beneficiaries.

As part of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on Zero Hunger chaired by Cabinet Secretary Karlo Alexei B. Nograles, the program was conceptualized and realized to rehabilitate malnourished pregnant women and children aged 6-23 months old. Thus, TK DSP also served as an intervention to address malnutrition and hunger brought by the pandemic.

The program was divided to three (3) categories per food commodity. For the first 30 days, enhanced nutribun (e-Nutribun) was given to the pregnant women beneficiaries. Followed for another 30 days were distribution of e-Nutribun and lipid-based nutrient supplement-small quantity (LNS-SQ) and for the remaining 30 days, wet feeding or hot meals were consumed by the recipients.

Provincial Nutrition Focal Point (PNFP) Gwyn Y. Balaba visited the recipient LGUs to undertake progress and improvement monitoring of the pregnant women recipients' nutritional status. Beneficiaries were weighed and assessed before the start of the feeding to establish a baseline. Reports indicate improvement in the weight and nutritional status of the recipients. The pregnant women who received the intervention have seen a profound transformation from underweight to normal weight gain.

The program's success would not have been possible without the dedication and full involvement of the Local Chief Executive Nutrition Action Officers (NAOs), Nutrition Office staff, Barangay Nutrition Scholars (BNS), e-Nutribun suppliers, and Department of Agrarian Reform-Agrarian Reform Beneficiary (DAR-ARBOs).

Come 2022, a total of 1679 children aged 6-23 months old in the same LGUs will receive the Tutok Kainan program through 180-day complementary feeding.

Preventing malnutrition is crucial especially during pregnancy and the first two years of a child's life. As a result, the TK DSP was designed to foster intervention and the exploration for more effective and suitable nutrition programs to combat hunger and malnutrition.

Programs like TK DSP were created by and for our country's people. It is the reality that malnutrition coexists along with prosperity. The public and private sectors continue to work hand in hand to put an end to child mortality brought by hunger and malnutrition. (PNFP Gwyn Y. Balaba)