TACLOBAN CITY – On Friday, the Municipal Core Team for the Local Nutrition in Early Warning System (LNEWS) in the Municipality of Libagon expressed readiness to start the monitoring activities after the team successfully completed the two-day training workshop on Food and Nutrition Security - Early Warning System on November 19-20, 2020 at LAMP Coop Function Hall, Libagon, Southern Leyte.

The FNS-EWS is a form of monitoring and analysis of relevant information that may foretell a possible crisis such as food shortage or health problem. The tool will help  strengthen the local government units (LGUs) capacity for data collection, analysis and interpretation, and the use of data for nutrition program planning and decision-making.

Relevant information that may forecast possible crisis are indicators and triggers of: (1) food system stability; (2) food availability; (3) food accessibility and (4) food utilization.

The Core Team headed by its Municipal Health Officer (MHO) at the same time the Municipal Nutrition Action Officer (MNAO), Dr. Ivy Liza Loquinte requested the cooperation of everyone for the periodic collection, monitoring, integration, and further analysis of data.

Members of the core team are from the: (1) Municipal Agriculture; (2) Municipal Planning and Development; (3) Local Disaster and Risk Reduction; (3) Sangguniang Bayan; and staff from the (4) Rural Health Unit.

The periodic monitoring will be conducted in five (5) sentinel barangays to include: Nahaong, Tigbao, Talisay, Mayuga and Makasag. The selection criteria of the five sentinel barangays are on the number of preschool children 0-59 months old, proportion of malnourished children 0-59 months old, reasonably accessible to allow for periodic monitoring by LGU; and participation rate of the communities to development activities.

The Municipality of Libagon is the fifth area of expansion in the region and the first in Southern Leyte identified priority by the National Nutrition Council. #NASLabordo