NNC-7 tackles nutrition woes of kids, pregnant women

CEBU, Philippines —  The National Nutrition Council alongside the Department of Health in Region 7 has discussed the nutrition situation of pregnant women and children during its 47th Nutrition Month Sales Conference cum Barangay Nutrition Forum via Zoom in preparation also for the Nutrition Month 2021.

NNC-7 Nutrition Program Coordinator Parolita Mission expressed that the event is a way to generate support from other stakeholders as well as encouraging local government units to implement the first one thousand days (F1KD) program to prevent uncontrolled stunting.

With the theme, “Malnutrisyon patuloy na labanan, First 1000 days tutukan,” it calls for all sectors to focus on the first one thousand days of life and view it as a strategic intervention to prevent stunting in children.

Republic Act 11148 or the Kalusugan at Nutrisyon ng Mag-Nanay Act was signed on November 29, 2018 as a complement to the Universal Health Care Law.

Mission expressed concern that most of the general public are not aware of the F1KD as shown in the 2021 message recall survey conducted by the NNC, showing a mere 11.2 percent when asked about the F1KD program.

NNC-7 Nutritionist Dietitian Suzette M. Salado presented the situation of Central Visayas wherein 27 percent of pregnant women are nutritionally-at-risk in a 2015 study.

The study also showed that stunting has been the greatest malnutrition problem in the region for 0-59 month old children.

In the 2020 trend graphs for underweight, stunted, wasted, and overweight children in Central Visayas all showed a downward trend between 2018 and 2020 with stunted children having the best improvement decreasing from 11.94 percent to 7.6 percent.

Salado continued on with the nutrition trends shown by children aged 5 to 10 years old. A graph by the Department of Science and Technology-Food and Nutrition Research Institute Nutritional Food Survey from 2011 to 2015 shows underweight and stunted children being the most prevalent in the country, due to non-balanced food intake which leads to children not getting the nutrients they need.

Although children in Central Visayas are shown to eat lesser fruits, from 104 grams in 1987 to only 24 grams per meal in 2015, the opposite is occurring in the vegetable intake graph with double the increase from 58 to 120 grams per meal.

Jeffeson C. Gregorio, a nutrition specialist of UNICEF Philippines, who presented the UNICEF Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD)-First 1000 Days Program Integration.

The program is a realized opportunity for UNICEF to test an approach that is linked to the Early Childhood Care and Development Program with legal basis from the Early Years Act of 2013 or R.A. 10410. It also allows strengthening of national-local coordination and local integration which Gregorio has defined as vertical integration and horizontal integration, respectively.

UNICEF will be primarily offering technical support in these programs, providing financial support, data and upscaling on existing capacities among others.

Maria Fatima Dolly R. Reario of Hellen Keller International presented the idea of mother to mother support groups in their Barangay First 1000 Days program (BF1KD).

The program suggests strategies that cater to the barangay, which Reario stated in the presentation as the “frontiers for nutrition.”

The point of the presentation is that as with everything, change must start at the grassroots. The program expands the F1KD to other aspects of the barangay such as community involvement, camaraderie, and positive experience making. — Jean Aldemer S. Salgados, Silliman University intern, GMR (FREEMAN)