CEBU, Philippines — The Municipality of Santa Fe, Cebu recently conducted the simultaneous mothers' classes using the Department of Science and Technology's (DOST) Package for the Implementation of Nutrition of Young children (PINOY) in the locality's 10 barangays.
DOST-PINOY, according Norre Jean delos Santos, nutrition officer 1 of the National Nutrition Council (NNC)-7, is the module or lessons used in mothers classes, which is a component program under the Early Child Care and Development-First 1,000 Days program of the NNC.
The DOST-PINOY aims to equip mothers and their families the importance of the infant and young child feeding, as well as other appropriate nutrition practices like home gardening, food safety, and meal planning.
The classes in Sta. Fe had 25 participating mothers per barangay. Each barangay had three trainers composed of the barangay nutrition scholar, midwife and barangay-deployed nurse, who were trained by the NNC.
All the seven topics from the DOST PINOY module that were related to improving nutrition behaviors to prevent malnutrition were discussed.
These topics include the basic nutrition, care during pregnancy, breastfeeding, complementary feeding, meal planning, food safety and home gardening.
In a separate statement released by NNC-7, ECCD F1K Provincial Nutrition Coordinator Retz Pol O. Pacalioga said that the classes are very beneficial to the mothers as this will provide them with the basic health and nutrition knowledge to further improve their practices in raising their child.
Pacalioga hopes that the participating mothers will get the most out of the activity and create support groups to expand the municipal's awareness campaign on nutrition.
The DOST-PINOY is part of the training series for the ECCD F1K Program in which Santa Fe, Cebu is one of the three selected municipalities covered in Central Visayas. The other two are the municipalities of Dalaguete and Tuburan, Cebu.
NNC-7 Regional Nutrition Program Coordinator Parolita Mission earlier said that the first 1,000 days of a child is crucial in his/her mental and physical development. Within this period, a child has to be nourished to prevent malnutrition and diseases which are contributory factor to poverty in the family.
Mission added that the first 1,000 days of a child is considered as the first golden window of opportunity to address malnutrition and catch up the cognitive development.
ECCD-F1K is a program that aims to ensure the total development of the child through the delivery of key health, nutrition, early education, and social services in the continuum of care from pregnancy to the first two years of life. — GAN (FREEMAN)