The National Nutrition Council Davao Region has recently sealed its partnership with Philippine Association of Nutrition – Alpha Pi Chapter (PAN-AP) in the promotion of good nutrition, beginning with the 47th Nutrition Month campaign. The partnership aims to enhance the two organizations’ engagement and reach to a wider array of audience and further enhance the promotion of good nutrition among the general public and other stakeholders by sharing relevant and helpful nutrition information through various social media platforms.
In a virtual meeting held on 05 July 2021, Ms. Karyne June D. Simon, outgoing chairperson of PAN-AP and Ms. Roan Angela Rillon, Incoming Chairperson of PAN-AP, introduced PAN-AP as an academic organization under the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics in Central Mindanao University that is devoted to participating in social and community activities; safeguarding nutrition and health of Filipinos. The two representatives shared their plans and various activities for the 47th Nutrition Month. They explained that with the theme, “Malnutrisyon patuloy na labanan, First 1000 days tutukan!, PAN-AP has designed a series of month-long activities namely PANkaalaman: The Nutrition Month Webinar Series: Gestation, Lactation and Infancy; NutriQuiz Year 2; PANlasa: Search for the Unique and Healthy Complementary Food; PANlikha: The Meme-making Contest; PANtiktok ‘yan!; and PANkarunungan: Weekly Trivia.
Ms. Simon and Ms. Rillon further explained that PANkaalaman is a Webinar Series that is intended to discuss the significance of the First 1000 Days of life in fighting against malnutrition. NutriQuiz on the other hand, aims to strengthen the knowledge and understanding of nutrition students and as part of the general public, on the various health and nutritional concepts in our community. They added that this event aims to educate individuals about the importance and relevance of nutrition in various disciplines and apply their knowledge in resolving both nutritional concerns and problems that occur in their communities. The PANlasa is a cooking contest that encourages people to showcase different complementary food recipe for children 6 to 23 months that is unique and healthy. This contest aims to impart knowledge to the general public and promote awareness on the importance of proper complementary feeding among infants. PANlikha is a meme-making contest that aims to raise awareness regarding the malnutrition experienced especially by children in the First 1000 Days with the use of witty, humorous and social media trend. PAN-Tiktok Yan! is an activity designed for Nutrition and Dietetics students and professionals, where nutrition information can be shared using the Tiktok platform and at the same time, showcase their creativity in creating Tiktok videos to promote good nutrition in the First 1000 Days of Life. The PANkarunungan is PAN-AP’s weekly trivia sharing that intends to offer credible information on healthy nutrition choices. This activity encourages all Nutrition and Dietetics Students to send their trivia that will solely focus on debunking food and nutrition myths accompanied with evidence-based nutrition trivia and facts. Trivia submitted will be posted weekly starting August.
They continued by presenting the different partnership packages they referred to as Macro, Micro and Trace Partnership which shows different levels of commitments between the two organizations. NNC Davao Region, represented by OIC NO III Alona E. Teo and NO II John Warry Fernandez, expressed interest with Macro partnership which has the highest level of commitment in supporting each other’s nutrition publications online to ensure the widest reach and ultimately promote good nutrition much more effectively, even during the COVID-19 pandemic.
NNC XI praised the PAN-AP for their creativity and passion for upholding nutrition and dietetics as a topnotch profession. OIC NO III Teo proposed the possibility of extending the partnership beyond the Nutrition Month campaign and forge a more permanent partnership.
/AET
