Winning major awards in nutrition has a lot to do with governance, Regional Nutrition Program Coordinator Maria Teresa Ungson said.
Basing her observations on the latest Regional Nutrition Awarding in December last year, Ungson noted that inherent among awarded local government units (LGUs) were the integration of nutrition concerns in their investment plans, aside from the receptiveness of local chief executives (LCEs) to take initiatives in line with the nutrition program implementation.
“Di mahirap kausapin ang mga local chief executives (It is not difficult to deal wit local chief executives) when it comes to nutrition,” she said.
Other winning edge of LGUs were the parallel support to the nutrition program among city and municipal governments and barangays, and the presentation of sufficient document to back up claims of efforts geared towards bringing down malnutrition among children.
Regional Awardees
Citing Davao del Norte, Ungson explained that the province last year earned the recognition as the Regional Green Banner Awardee not because it posted the lowest rate of malnutrition among pre-school children, but because its cities and municipalities also showed strong efforts on nutrition.
The Regional Green Banner Award is given to LGUs (province, city and municipality) in recognition of their “exemplary performance in managing the nutrition program, contributing to the improvement of the nutritional status of their constituents.”
Ungson revealed that the province of Davao Oriental attained the highest reduction of malnutrition among preschool children, pushing down the prevalence rate to 5.48 percent in 2011 from 6.32 percent in 2010, while Compostela Valley posted the highest reduction in malnutrition prevalence rate among school children from 7.09 percent in 2010 to 6.14 percent in 2011.
Davao del Norte achieved a reduction of only 0.1 percent in malnutrition prevalence rate among pre-school children from 6.7 percent in 2010 to 6.6 percent in 2011, but some of its component LGUs were found doing remarkable strides in addressing malnutrition. [jeanevive duron abangan/ PIA 11]
