Dumaguete City – The City Nutrition Office (CNO) of this city launched its yearlong nutrition services for city hall employees to address the rising cases of non-communicable diseases among them.

The service package was initiated by CNO under the leadership of its Nutrition Officer III Delia E. Serion in cooperation with the Human Resource Department who found out that most of the reasons for leave of absence filed by the employees were non-communicable diseases conditions like elevated uric acid and cholesterol, hypertension, diabetes, and diseases of the heart.

Services provided by the CNO personnel include body mass index (BMI) assessment, nutrition and diet counseling, blood pressure taking, random blood sugar testing, and medical nutrition therapy. Zumba session is also part of the activities. Monthly monitoring of employees’ health statistics will be conducted to see the effect of the given interventions and if it has improved their medical conditions.

Dumaguete City Mayor Felipe Antonio B. Remollo who was very supportive of this initiative and the entire nutrition program of the city expressed his enthusiasm for the positive outcome of this undertaking as he anticipated the city’s progress of improving the health and nutritional well-being of its own people. // DMO II Christine Lopez, RND with notes from NO III Delia E. Serion, RND