Region X

Details: Category: Region 10; Published: 16 April 2020

Kitchen for COVID 19 frontliners 07 April 2020, Cagayan de Oro City – The current battle with coronavirus disease (COVID-19) requires each person to be healthy, especially the uniformed and health personnel who serve as frontliners.

Aside from physical distancing and basic personal hygiene, strong immunity is necessary to combat possible contract of COVID-19 or any other infectious diseases. To strengthen and boost the immunity, it is a given to eat balanced meals with foods from the three food groups – go, grow and glow.

Local Government Units led by their respective Local Chief Executives provided the necessary and available equipment and assistance to support their frontliners and volunteers, which includes the provision of hot meals.

Details: Category: Region 10; Published: 14 April 2020

Healthy Food Packs 11 April 2020, Cagayan de Oro City – Some local government units in Northern Mindanao went beyond the usual package in providing food packs to their constituents in the middle of the implementation of community quarantine. Due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis, movements are limited and work in various settings are suspended, therefore affecting food accessibility.

Food packs usually consist of rice, instant noodles and canned goods. However, these LGUs continued to advocate for proper nutrition in the midst of the current setting through the addition of vegetables and fruits on top of the typical food packs. This strategy enables LGUs to help their residents eat their fill while taking into consideration the nutritional value of their meals.

Fruits and vegetables are good sources of vitamins and minerals that boost the immune system to fight against COVID-19 and other infectious diseases. Read our article here on how to strengthen the immune system through foods.

Details: Category: Region 10; Published: 26 March 2020

Infographics Nutrition for Pregnant Women Pregnancy, consisting 270 days or nine (9) months, marks the beginning of a new human life formed inside a mother’s womb. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), about 123 million women get pregnant each year across the globe. In Region 10 alone, 51,358 pregnancies were recorded in the 2018 Regional Field Health Service Information System. Numerous as it is, the infants that pregnant women carry for 9 months will create the next generation. On that note, one should make sure that pregnant women get the right nutrition and health support she needs for her to successfully give birth to a healthy, full-term baby with normal birth weight, and with no physical or mental deformities and dysfunctions.

Proper nutrition plays a vital role during pregnancy. As all nutrients are essential to make body functions work, some nutrients have increased demand during pregnancy to meet not just the needs of the pregnant mother, but most importantly to support the proper growth and development of the baby inside her womb.

To give emphasis, here are some of the most crucial nutrients that a pregnant woman needs during pregnancy and its corresponding food source:

Calcium

This mineral aids in building strong bones and teeth. Common food sources are dairy products such as milk, cheese and yogurt, vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage and okra, soybean and soybean products like soya milk and tofu, nuts and bread made from fortified flour. Philippine Dietary Reference Intake (PDRI) suggests an extra 50 mg of calcium per day for pregnant women.

Details: Category: Region 10; Published: 13 April 2020

infographic F1K Days Cagayan de Oro City ─ Last 2 April 2020, the National Nutrition Council Region 10 launched its digital campaign entitled “F1K Days matters,” a series of infographics that focuses on proper nutrition in the first 1000 days of life, the time spanning roughly between pregnancy, and the child’s second birthday. This period is also known as the ‘golden window of opportunity’, wherein foundations for optimum health and development across the lifespan are established. This initiative aims to support the agency’s Early Childhood Care and Development on the First 1000 Days (ECCD-F1K) Program, which recently included Bukidnon Province in its roster of expansion areas for 2020.

This series of infographics will be posted in the NNC X Facebook Page (https://web.facebook.com/NNCregion10) every Thursday, from April to September 2020, highlighting nutrition-related topics that are vital during the first 1000 days. Topics include nutrition needs of pregnant and lactating mothers, breastfeeding promotion, proper complementary feeding, and other health and nutrition interventions during the first 1000 days.

Details: Category: Region 10; Published: 25 March 2020

infographics how to prevent COVID 19 In this National Health Emergency, Philippines is now under a state of calamity for six months due to the outbreak of coronavirus disease or COVID-19 in the country. COVID-19 is an infectious disease caused by a new virus and it can spread from person-to-person through respiratory droplet.

People infected with COVID virus will experience mild to moderate respiratory symptoms. The foremost common symptoms of COVID-19 are fever, tiredness, and dry cough. These symptoms may appear 2-14 days after exposure, most commonly around five days. Most of the people (about 80%) recover from the disease without having a special treatment. More rarely, the disease can be serious and even fatal. Older people, and people with other medical conditions (such as asthma, diabetes, or heart disease), may be more vulnerable to becoming severely ill.

According to World Health Organization, in preventing COVID-19 you need to follow these basic preventive measures to protect yourself and help prevent spreading the virus to others:

Wash your hands frequently

Regularly and frequently wash your hands for 20 seconds, with soap and water or alcohol-based hand rub.

Practice respiratory hygiene

Make sure you, and the people around you, follow good respiratory hygiene. This means covering your mouth and nose with your flexed elbow or tissue when you cough or sneeze. Then dispose of the used tissue immediately.

Maintain social distancing

Maintain at least 1-meter (3 feet) distance between yourself and anyone who is coughing or sneezing.

Don’t touch

Avoid touching eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands.

Eat variety of healthy foods

Boost immune system by consuming variety of healthy foods every day. Refer to the Pinggang Pinoy for healthy food guide. Read our article entitled "Choose your Fighter: Eat your Vitamins and Minerals!" to know more on how you can strengthen your immune system through foods.

If you have fever, cough and difficulty breathing, seek medical care early

Stay home if you feel unwell. If you have a fever, cough and difficulty breathing, seek medical attention and call in advance. Follow the directions of your local health authority.

Stay informed and follow advice given by your healthcare provider

Stay informed on the latest developments about COVID-19. Follow advice given by your healthcare provider, your national and local public health authority or your employer on how to protect yourself and others from COVID-19.

As we all follow basic hygiene guidelines to prevent from contracting the virus and other infectious diseases that threaten our health, one among the best ways to protect yourself is to strengthen the immune system through food. The best way to ‘eat for immunity’ is to balanced diet and eat healthy and nutritious diet rich in vegetables, fruits, fiber and whole grains, which can protect the human body against certain types of diseases. Vitamins and minerals in the diet are vital to boost immunity and healthy development. Also, have healthy lifestyle habits— stop smoking, limit your alcohol consumption, get enough sleep, maintain a healthy weight through exercise and to manage your stress. (PHA John Paul D. Navarro, RPh)

Details: Category: Region 10; Published: 30 March 2020

RBAFT X beefs up advocacy campaign on iodized salt

26 March 2020, Cagayan de Oro City – The Regional Bantay Asin Task Force (RBATF) X, as the watchdog and the first line of defense in ensuring that only adequately iodized salt will reach the households in Northern Mindanao, plans to intensify the advocacy by crafting local promotional video and to maximize all networks and exhaust efforts in disseminating the video region-wide.

The result of the 2018 and 2019 salt monitoring in Northern Mindanao showed that out of 120 retail stores checked, 32 retail stores are still selling non-iodized salt or inadequately iodized salt with less than 15 parts per million (ppm). Further, the salt monitoring conducted last 8 November 2019 in Cagayan de Oro City showed that 11 out of 20 samples collected are inadequately iodized salt.

This prompted the RBATF to intensify promotion on the use of iodized salt. Thus, a proposal was made by the Promotion and Advocacy Technical Working Group (TWG) in late 2019 to produce a promotional video on iodized salt and its benefits, among others.