PALO, Leyte – The Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition (PPAN) 2017-2022 is the battle plan against malnutrition in the country, to eradicate or bring down malnutrition incidence particularly stunting (short for age), wasting (thin for age), underweight (light for age), overweight and obesity, micronutrient deficiencies, and hunger and food insecurity by year 2022.
Dr. Catalino P. Dotollo Jr., Regional Nutrition Program coordinator of National Nutrition Council Region VIII (NNC-8), explained this in a lecture entitled “PPAN 2017-2022 and the Barangay Nutrition Scholars during the 4th Barangay Nutrition Scholars (BNSs) Regional Conference held on 10-11 October 2018 at the Leyte Academic Center, here.
The two-day activity carrying the theme: “BNS: Bayani ng Nutrisyon, Noon, Ngayon, at Bukas” was attended by around 3,000 of the more than 4,000 strong front-line workers of nutrition in Region VIII, initiated by the Eastern Visayas Association of Barangay Nutrition Scholars Incorporated (EVA-BNS Inc.) in coordination with NNC-8.
It was gathered that PPAN 2017-2022 aims to significantly improve the prevalence of stunting and wasting; lower down the number of children suffering from micronutrient deficiency--or lack of vitamin A, iron and iodine; and lower or arrest the incidence of overweight and obesity.
Based on 2015 National Nutrition Survey, 33.4% or 3.8 million children are stunted while 7.1% or 807,057 are wasted. It also showed that over-nutrition manifesting as overweight and obesity are emerging health concerns among children, and a major problem among adults with 18 million Filipinos overweight and obese.
The current nutrition roadmap specifically targets to reduce the prevalence of stunting (short for age) currently at 33.4% (highest in South East Asia); wasting (thin for height) at 7.0%; overweight and obesity; including micronutrient deficiencies namely—vitamin A deficiency, iron deficiency anemia, iodine deficiency disorders; and hunger and food insecurity by year 2022.
Thereby Filipino children would be taller, fewer thin or wasted, lesser overweight or obese; and micronutrient deficiencies like vitamin A, iron deficiency anemia, iodine deficiency disorders below public health significance. Such could be achieved through better: nourished pregnant women, birth outcome, exclusive breastfeeding, complementary feeding, and calorie intake.
PPAN 2017-2022 is composed of 12 programs namely--eight Nutrition Specific, one Nutrition Sensitive, three Enabling Support Programs.
RNPC Dotollo detailed the activities under each item on the Nutrition-specific Program i.e. Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF), Integrated Management of Acute Malnutrition, National Nutrition Promotion Program for Behavior Change, Micronutrient Supplementation, Mandatory Food Fortification, Nutrition in Emergencies, and Overweight and Obesity Management and Prevention Program.
Under Nutrition Sensitive Program are: projects like Farm to Market Roads, in villages with high malnutrition prevalence, where the workers are from families with pregnant women or children 0-23 months old or malnourished; and Livelihood Programs again in villages with high malnutrition prevalence also the beneficiaries are from families with pregnant women or children 0-23 months old or malnourished.
Among the duties of the BNSs shall be to look for and identify the stunted and wasted children in their respective areas; look for and identify pregnant women, lactating mothers, and children 0-23 month old--with the goal to end stunting and wasting.
Further, to help implement the nutrition specific programs, the First 1000 Days by encouraging pregnant women to prenatal check-ups, eating the right foods, taking iron-folic acid tablet daily, preparing to breastfeed their child, and to give birth at health facilities.
Much more to spread IYCF practices: visit and convince new mothers to exclusively breastfeed their babies up to 6 months old, likewise mothers with 6-12 months old babies to give complementary foods to their babies while continuing breastfeeding until two years old, conduct demo-classes how to make complementary foods; conduct community IYCF promotion campaign, visit and teach prospective IYCF counsellors; coordinate with offices, factories, markets and work places to encourage employees who are mothers to breastfeed their babies.
And help improve the coverage of the following services: dietary supplementation, vitamin A supplementation, use of iodized salt, home kitchen gardens, nutrition education, referral of other services generating income and employment. (Jack C. Gadaingan)
