NNC-7 calls on leaders to prioritize nutrition in pandemic resilience plans

CEBU, Philippines —  The National Nutrition Council-7 has called on leaders to prioritize nutrition as a crucial factor in resilience building as the nation celebrates Nutrition Month this July.

During the Central Visayas Nutrition Month launching on Friday, NNC-7 regional nutrition program coordinator, Dr. Parolita Mission, in her message, also called upon leaders to exercise their powers to ensure building back better nutrition.

Mission said that as the Mandanas-Garcia ruling takes place for the full devolution of certain functions of the national to the local government units, she hopes that LGUs will use the additional budget to hire full time nutrition personnel and establish nutrition offices to ensure that the nutrition programs are carried out.

“Increasing the workforce and financial resources for nutrition and intersectoral collaboration will be a key factor for improved nutrition performance,” Mission said.

This month-long celebration, Mission said, has an objective of raising awareness of the importance of nutrition in building resilience and recovery from the pandemic, to stimulate discussions among stakeholders on how to build back better the design, delivery, scale-up of nutrition interventions, and to engage various sectors and the public in activities that promote nutrition, as we call for collective effort to improve nutrition as we move forwards to a better new normal.

Mission said that this year’s theme, “New Normal na Nutrisyon, Sama-Samang Gawan ng Solusyon!” calls for strengthened nutrition interventions and solidarity towards nutrition improvement as the country shifts towards living with the COVID-19 virus.

She added that as the theme calls on nutrition resiliency in the pandemic, let us use this opportunity to adopt the betterment of nutrition in the new normal and continue to advocate for good nutrition.

The Nutrition Month is a yearly campaign held every July by virtue of the Presidential Decree 491 or the Nutrition Act of the Philippines to create greater awareness on the importance of nutrition among Filipinos.

With this year’s theme, NNC-7 hopes to relay to as many stakeholders and citizens possible the key messages this celebration brings including good nutrition is the key to building immunity, protecting against illness and infection, and supporting recovery.

Mission added that efforts to preserve and promote proper nutrition must be part of the pandemic resilience strategies, promote and adopt health-enhancing nutrition behaviors, including the consumption of sustainable healthy diets, strengthen leadership and governance in nutrition across all levels to achieve nutritional outcomes of the Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition, among others. — GMR (FREEMAN)