What a way to usher in the Nutrition Month Celebration!
All twenty barangays of Tacurong City are scaling up their nutrition programs by formulating their respective Barangay Nutrition Action Plans (BNAP) and have them approved by their respective Barangay Nutrition Councils (BNC).
In a simple program on June 30, the punong barangays, as head of their BNCs, presented their BNAPs before the members of the City Nutrition Council chaired by Mayor Angelo ‘Roncal’ Montilla.
Present during the activity were Vice Mayor Lino Montilla, City Planning and Development Coordinator Amelia Bochorno, City Nutrition Action Officer Rogelio Garcia, and City Nutrition Program Ccordinator Myka Angelou Tomboc among others.
BNAP serves as the local version of the Philippine Plan of Action or PPAN, the country’s blueprint of actions for nutrition improvement, led by the NNC, together with key national and local stakeholders.
It also serves as a work plan of nutrition interventions at the barangay level that aims to help in reducing cases of malnutrition in their respective localities.
Nutrition governance takes a front seat in terms of priority programs of the current administration as Mayor Angelo ‘Roncal’ Montilla lists nutrition as one of his flagship programs.
Stunting (pagkabansot) and wasting (pagkapayat) are serious malnutrition problems that have long-lasting effects on the child. These are the problems the current administration wanted to dramatically reduce, if not totally eradicate.
Zuellig Family Foundation and Nutirition International have also become essential partners of Tacurong in mainstreaming Urban Nutrition Governance Program anchored on the framework of the First 1,000 Days Law or Republic Act 11148.
RA 11148 aims to take care of the health and nutrition of pregnant women and babies under two years of age.
Studies show that brain development of the child is critical from zero up to two years of age that is why caring for the nutrition of the child should start from the womb of the mother until the child reaches the age of two.
Through the help of ZFF and Nutrition International, Tacurong was able to address critical nutritional gaps such as the importance of having nutrition action plans from the city down to barangay levels.
The activation of the City Nutrition Council and appointment of a City Nutrition Action Officer as well as City Nutrition Program Ccordinator are manifestations of Mayor Montilla’s commitment to battle malnutrition.
He also elevated the status of five barangay nutrition scholars (BNS) from volunteers to job orders and committed to do the same with other BNS in the remaining barangays.
Nutrition situation analysis of Tacurong shows that stunting, underweight, thinness, and obesity are the forms of malnutrition existing in the city.
Stunting has the highest prevalence rate of 8.6 percent or a total of 718 children among 0-59 years old population. It is followed by underweight with prevalence rate of 5.5 percent or 457.
With the formulation of BNAP by all barangays, the public can expect that all problems related to malnutrition will be properly addressed.
Mayor Montilla also conveyed his gratitude to the commitment of the barangays in mainstreaming nutrition programs in local governance. He also thanked the City Documentation Team in assisting the BNCs in encoding, binding, and reproducing the copies of the BNAPs. (ASFreno, LGU Information)