The municipality of Maco in the province of Davao de Oro was once part of the municipalities of Tagum and Mabini before it was created as a separate entity some 50 years ago. The name Maco is derived from the word Mamacao or Maraco which means a big tree. The original settlers of Maco were said to be various tribes of the Mansakas which means first people to ascend the mountains or go upstream. These people are earth-bound and are self-sufficient, building houses inside the forest and clearing patches of land to plant vegetables and crops mainly for home consumption. This practice of self-sufficiency continues today with the implementation of the municipality’s nutrition program by the Municipal Nutrition Committee (MNC) led by their multi-degree holder Mayor Alvera Veronica Rimando.
Like a big tree with its roots firmly entrenched within the ground, nourished by the soil, its branches full of luscious leaves and heavy with fruits, the nourishment provided by the municipal government through the various nutrition specific and nutrition sensitive interventions manifested in the continued improvement of the nutrition situation. Stunting prevalence among preschool children decreased from 7.2% in 2016 to 4.8% in 2018; overweight and obesity also decreased from 1.34% in 2016 to 0.58% in 2018. Among schoolchildren, wasting decreased from 7.7% in 2016 to 3.6% in 2018 in the same period.
Consistent with Maco’s nurturing character, the municipal government is resolved in nurturing first its foundation for quality nutrition services. Through the MNC, the local government exhausted all possible resources and allocated funds to capacitate the barangay health workers, barangay nutrition scholars and barangay volunteer sanitary inspectors deployed in the 37 barangays of Maco. These capacity-building activities aims to equip these workers with not just correct, but updated information and important skills that will contribute to their credibility and confidence as frontline workers. Among the recently held trainings is the training on Kangaroo Mother Care, which was conducted in partnership with the Davao Regional Medical Center. These workers can now confidently assist mothers who gave birth to low birthweight babies in its proper care and nourishment until it reaches its healthy weight. Meanwhile, through the IYCF trained health workers and BNSs, an IYCF support group was organized, which, in 2018, counselled 1,455 pregnant and lactating mothers on proper breastfeeding techniques and appropriate complementary food preparation.
With nurturing comes self-sufficiency. This is how the local government wants to address malnutrition in their community. While they exhaust all efforts to nourish its citizens, they also want to leave a legacy of self-sufficiency. This is why the MNC is continuously promoting household food security, especially for families with malnourished children, through home and community vegetable gardens. The local government’s agriculture department spearheads the distribution of free vegetable seeds, seedlings and organic fertilizer in order to facilitate this initiative. At the barangay level and in school, Gulayan sa Barangay and Gulayan sa Paaralan are evaluated during Nutrition Month to ensure sustainability. The agriculture sector also conducted swine, livestock and poultry dispersals supported by dispersal restocking activities.
Since the chief executive is a doctor by profession, Mayor Rimando also understands that applying the clinical approach for the assessment of nutrition situation among children is can be a useful approach. Hence, a Maco-wide hemoglobin determination for malnourished preschool and school children was conducted. Those who showed low hemoglobin count, undergoes free iron supplementation for three months before repeating the test.
In their effort of implementing the nutrition program, Maco was quickly noticed for its excellence. Maco was recognized for its Excellence in Financial Management of Supplementary Feeding Program Cycle IV and V at the municipal level and Model LGU for 4Ps and Sustainable Livelihood Program implementation at the regional level. The municipality of Maco also produced one of the National Outstanding BNS.
Just as the Mamacao continues to flourish and bear fruit, the municipality of Maco will continue to thrive through self-sufficiency and yield positive results for nutrition success.
Source: 2019 National Nutrition Awarding Ceremony Souvenir Program
