Cebu Province – The National Nutrition Council with funding support from UNICEF deploys Information Management Officers in Typhoon Odette (International name: Rai) devastated some provinces in the country. Three IMOs are deployed in Central Visayas to cover the provinces of Bohol, Cebu, and Negros Oriental. The IMOs collect relevant data on nutrition response in the post-disaster mitigation and recovery phase. Included in the data collection are the existing demographic statistics, availability of the anthropometric tools, profiling of functional Nutrition Clusters, lists of the established support groups in emergencies, the results of the routine activity of Operation Timbang Plus, and the list of active nutrition worker with relevant training in the delivery of Nutrition service packages in emergencies.
These tools will be used by the nutrition clusters at the different administrative levels in identifying and analyzing the gaps, the barriers, and even the duplication of the delivery of nutrition services. The consolidated results will be the basis for planning and improving the systems and procedures to establish more efficient and effective nutrition in emergency response, recovery, and rehabilitation of the affected population.
In the management of nutrition in emergencies, the response is focused on the evasion and worsening of Acute Malnutrition of children below five (< 5 years old), continuing the proper infant and young child feeding practices, establishing dietary supplementation programs for the affected pregnant and lactating mothers and young children and the supply chain management of Micronutrient Supplementation.
Ways forward to what the results of the data collected would be is a good input for local nutrition managers and implementers in delivering quality nutrition services in emergencies and disasters and in normal times particularly in some areas in the region which are geographically isolated and disadvantaged and prone to natural calamities and disasters. // IMO Gabe Henriel P. Sucalit, RND
