The Davao Region composed of four provinces and five cities is winning the war against hunger, with Davao Oriental showing the most dramatic positive change.
This was reported by Ms Maria Teresa L. Ungson, Region 11 nutrition program coordinator during the nutrition and media forum in support of the Accelerated Hunger-Mitigation Program at the CAP auditorium in Davao City last Thursday.
No less than Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III, chair of the National Nutrition Council governing board and lead of the Anti-Hunger Task Force, was the guest of honor and main speaker of the one-day gathering attended by hundreds of barangay nutrition scholars.
“Nutrition prevalence rate in Davao region is far lower than the national prevalence rate,” Ungson said.
Nutrition program through the Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition is one of the priority agenda of the local chief executives particularly at the provincial and city level.
“LGUs invested their efforts through additional budget for nutrition programs, manpower and machineries to effectively and efficiently deliver the health and nutrition services to help address and prevent the occurrence of malnutrition at their level,” she said.
Ungson said that the zealous efforts of the Local Government Units and allied sectors contributed to the dramatic reduction of malnutrition in the region. The 2008 date showed a prevalence rate of 10.08% among malnourished preschool children aged 0 to 59 months old which is lower than the national prevalence rate of 26.9%.
Based on the Operation Timbang result conducted in 2008, Davao Oriental had the highest prevalence rate of malnutrition in the region with 15.29% total prevalence rate. However, 2009 OPT date showed a dramatic reduction of prevalence rate of Davao Oriental with a total of 9.7% prevalence rate.
She lauded the provincial government under Gov. Corazon N. Malanyaon for working hard on their nutrition situation.
She said that NNC Region 11 has been regularly coordinating with partner agencies along with the implementation of PPAN. Monitoring and evaluation with regional technical working group are regularly conducted to ensure that technical assistance are extended at the local level and assess their nutrition program implementation to address constraints and recognize good practices, she said.
“Good governance and active coordination along with sincere commitment in service are keys towards a progressive and nutritionally healthy populace in Davao Region,” Ms Ungson said. AMA
0 Comments
Oldest