Cebu City – As the region’s highest policy-making body in nutrition, the Regional Nutrition Committee (RNC) passed a resolution approving local Tutok Kainan Supplementation Program (TKSP) guidelines. The said guideline was discussed and approved during the RNC Full Committee meeting held on 23 February 2023 at Hotel Elizabeth, Cebu City.
The RNC-Technical Working Group, the technical arm of RNC drafted said local policy generally patterned from the national guideline with provisions simplification of social preparation steps, prioritization process particularly expanding the criteria to include socio-demographics to respond to the common concerns of local implementers. The local guideline also puts a premium on complementary activities of the program also to ensure that families can be more empowered in their caring practices and increase their capacities to secure and procure food for the enrolled beneficiaries even after the conclusion of the program.
Tutok Kainan Supplementation Program or TKSP is a stunting-reduction program that operated by providing dietary supplementation to pregnant women and 6 to 23 months children, or the first 1000 days populace.
Since it is now in its third and fourth phase of implementation targeting 6 to 23 months children, a regional guideline must be in place to guide the local implementors, especially the local government units. This blueprint of TKSP action hopes to provide guidance to the municipal nutrition and barangay nutrition committees guidance in program implementation, especially on the objectives of the program, the prioritization process of beneficiaries in the barangays, and the steps to be undertaken during the implementation proper. The effort hopes to help set the program in motion in Central Visayas.
With the help of the RNC and RNC-TWG members coming from different government agencies, it hopes to provide a multi-sectoral language, which is one of the program designs: a multi-sectoral approach to battle the stunting prevalence of the region. //DMO II Kristal Katrina Bacay, RN
