The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) XII acted as the frontliner, at least, in the dissemination of various regional webinar activities, initiated by the National Nutrition Council (NNC), to the LGUs for this year’s 46th celebration of Nutrition Month.
During the first few days of July, DILG XII has taken the ‘virtual’ and ‘non-contact’ option for the campaign in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic which caused massive lockdowns in communities. It also shown support to the campaign through the hanging of streamers in designated places, gardening activities, and holding of a quiz bee.
It can be recalled that during the January 30 meeting of the NNC Technical Committee, the approved theme is “Batang Pinoy SANA TALL… Iwas stunting, SAMA ALL!” which was meant to promote awareness and mobilize actions to address stunting among Filipino children.
The campaign, according to DILG RD Josephine Cabrido-Leysa, CESO III, needs the full participation of government, non-government organizations, civil society, business, academe, communities and families. Stunting or pagkabansot in the Filipino language, refers to the impaired growth and development experienced by children due to poor nutrition, repeated infection and inadequate psychosocial stimulation.
Stunting, according to the NNC briefer, “can result to low educational performance, lost productivity, increased risk of developing non-communicable diseases (NCDs), and even death. The economic cost of stunting is high equivalent to 1.5 to 3% of the country’s gross domestic product.”
The theme underscores the urgency of addressing stunting considering that the NNC Data show that the Philippines is one of the 10 countries with the most stunted children in the world. Currently, 1 in every 3 or 30% of Filipino children 0-59 months old are stunted with stunting highest among 12-23 months at 36.6% (2018 ENNS, DOST-FNRI).
This high prevalence of stunting in the country remains to be a concern due to the limited scale by which nutrition and related services and programs have been delivered. This is made worse by the fact that many Filipinos believe that stunting is hereditary thing (namamana) and not actually an illness.
NNC reiterates that stunting is irreversible and thus must be prevented with proper nutrition and care in the first 1000 days or the period of conception until the child’s second birthday.
“Clearly, everyone should have a role in addressing stunting. It can be done by ensuring that families have access to nutritious food, have the knowledge and skills to feed their children from locally sourced food, have access to and seek services, lalo na sa first 1000 days of a child’s life ,” Dir. Leysa stated, in reference to RA 11148 or the “Kalusugan at Nutrisyon ng Magnanay Act”.
On July 27, 2020, the Office of the Regional Director (ORD) spearheaded the Nutrition Month culmination activity wherein all the DILG Regional Office XII personnel participated in a quiz bee.
RD Leysa then challenged the employees to participate in the “Gulayan sa Opisina” as it has been the practice before. “Let us not forget what we have started last year, when we grew our own vegetables through our Edible Landscaping. It is our way of making vegetables accessible to all, even while we are in the Office and most especially in the LGUs,” Rd Leysa added.
