TACLOBAN CITY – “By year 2030 no one will go hungry anywhere in Carigara!” Ray Gaspay, treasurer of Harmonized Initiatives of Media for the Spread of Good Nutrition in Region 8 (HIMSoG-8) ended his lecture with this ‘punch-line’ to a crowd of some 50 nutrition stake-holders and middle-managers in the municipality of Carigara, and he reiterated this again for the town of Babatngon, and again for the town of Capoocan, all in the Province of Leyte.
The three towns were the target-municipalities of National Nutrition Council Region VIII media-group partner, HIMSoG-8, Media-Nutrition Caravan conducted on June 7-8, this year.Gaspay explained as NNC’s media arm it is the caravan’s mission, to deliver messages encouraging local government units (LGUs) to enhance their nutrition program investment and implementation, to contribute with the country’s compliance of its mandate and commitments to the international community, as well as increase the people’s productivity to fight hunger and poverty in their municipalities.
The HIMSoG treasurer urged the LGUs of Carigara, Babatngon and Capoocan to increase their budget for nutrition as nutrition-spending actually is “Investment.” Rationalizing with the study by Save the Children baring that, the country’s economy loses P328 billion a year due to malnutrition; P166.5 billion worth of lost incomes as a result of lower level of education reached by the working populace who suffered from childhood stunting; P160 billion in lost productivity due to premature deaths among children who potentially would have been members of the current working-age population; and P1.23 billion in additional education costs to cover grade repetitions linked to undernutrition.
Gaspay emphasized economic investment in nutrition intervention is a key platform for the country’s overall progress in Health, Education, and Productivity!
Furthermore, the Philippines as a member state of the United Nations (UN) is a signatory to the international body’s Sustainable Development Goals to end in year 2030, which is composed of 17 Goals in all. Of these goals Gaspay focused on Goal No. 2 only, in relevance to the aims of the caravan: End hunger, achieve food security and improve nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture!
Goal 2 is composed of eight targets of which numbers 1 and 2 are nutrition specific while numbers 3 and 4 are on food security: (1) By 2030, end hunger and ensure access by all people, in particular the poor and those in vulnerable situations, including infants, to safe, nutritious and sufficient food all year round; (2) end all forms of malnutrition, including achieving by year 2025, the internationally agreed targets on stunting and wasting in children under 5 years of age, and address the nutritional needs of adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating women and older persons;
(3) double the agricultural productivity and incomes of small-scale food producers, in particular women, indigenous peoples, family farmers, pastoralists and fishers, including through secure and equal access to land, other productive resources and inputs, knowledge, financial services, markets and opportunities for value addition and non-farm employment; 4. ensure sustainable food production systems and implement resilient agricultural practices that increase productivity and production, that help maintain ecosystems, that strengthen capacity for adaptation to climate change, extreme weather, drought, flooding and other disasters and that progressively improve land and soil quality.
