Cebu City - The Media Information Network for Nutrition and Development 7 (MIND 7) reinvigorates its support for NNC 7’s social and behavior change communication campaign. This was affirmed by the officers during its blended meeting held on 21 November 2022.

MIND 7 is an association of media practitioners in the region organized by NNC 7 on 17 November 2010 to help sustain efforts for nutrition advocacy and promotion in the region. The network to date provides opportunities to promote and disseminate evidenced-based nutrition messages in their respective media outlets and channels thru social media platforms, radio broadcasts, television programs, and print.

In our period now, we absorb vast amounts of information that sometimes is not what we need to proceed and perceive as necessities in life. We overload our minds with important information that helps us be better at our goals. Communication plays a powerful role in addressing the barriers and shaping the demand for - and adoption of preventive and promotive practices related to health and nutrition.

The National Nutrition Council made a paradigm shift in recent years from awareness campaigns of different unsolicited information such as fad diets and various new dieting trends and raising awareness and conduct of information, education, and communication activities to strategic, evidence-based social and behavior change communication strategies (SBCC). The agency employs SBCC interventions as key strategies for addressing social and cultural barriers to achieving nutrition goals, thereby reducing morbidity and mortality from nutrition-preventable health problems in the country. The change came about with the realization that as individual behavior is greatly influenced by socio-cultural, environmental, and gender norms, the need to mobilize communities in support of recommended behaviors is imperative along with integrating advocacy to influence policy and structural issues, leading to increasing holistic approaches to nutrition communication.

In removing obstacles and influencing demand for and acceptance of preventive and promotion measures connected to health and nutrition, information and communication play a significant role. // DMO II Gabe Henriel P. Sucalit, RND