Bayambang’s Municipal Nutrition Committee: All-Out Against Malnutrition

 

Bayambang’s Municipal Nutrition Committee: All-Out Against Malnutrition

 

Tasked with helping our constituents meet their nutritional or dietary needs, Bayambang’s Municipal Nutrition Committee sees to it that everything is based on a solid plan and the implementation is well-executed, followed by close monitoring and evaluation to ensure a sustainable strategy.

Foremost, we have the Local Nutrition Action Plan upon which are anchored all the various local programs, projects and activities that we set out to do within one year.

Our program for pregnant women – the first-ever and the only one in the region – is called the 90-Day Dietary Supplementation Program for Pregnant Women. This is normally a program solely for children, but just a few years ago, it was found out that it is also effective in solving malnutrition during the first 1000 days of life which begins with pregnancy – Healthy Mommy, Healthy Baby. Started last year through the National Nutrition Council grant, the program has been able to feed 900 pregnant women – a mix of low BMI and normal BMI women. And since our turnover is good, we replicated this unique program for pregnant women with LGU funds, targeting the nutritionally at risk pregnant women and giving them fresh milk, eggs, iodized salt, biscuits and fruits. Notably, the LGU was able to win the DOH’s Healthy Pilipinas Award in the Nutrition Category because of its DSP implementation.

We have an Infant and Young Child Feeding Program focused on breastfeeding and complementary feeding, with emphasis on educating mothers or caregivers through relevant forums. This year, we assessed our breastfeeding support groups and increased their number in the barangays because we believe exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months coupled with proper complementary feeding 6 months and beyond would make our babies healthy and nutritionally sound. This proved especially helpful in the Covid-19 pandemic – since we didn't have a vaccine for babies, breastmilk became their first line of defense against diseases. This program is a joint program with our First 1000 Days Program that we have been implementing in our town for a long time.

In this program, aside from teaching mothers about breastfeeding and conducting complementary feeding, we also conduct ECCD Checklist Child Developmental Milestone Assessment, so the LGU also trained the BNS in coordination with the National Nutrition Council through our office to assess the developmental milestones of children aged 0-2 years old. There is a checklist to monitor if our nutrition workers are able to do that. We have also given out checklists used for when a child has a developmental delay, so he or she can be referred to our doctors and outside specialists if needed.

We implement Operation Timbang Plus in coordination with our Rural Health Units. We monitor the nutritional status of all children aged 0-59 months in the town to assess how many are malnourished, how many are underserved, what part of the town they live, etc. This way, we are able to build an important database.

Through the initiative of our Nutrition Office, the scales used in the 77 barangays of Bayambang are also given free weight calibration via DOST annually, to ensure correct weight data. It was only in the year 2020 that the barangay shouldered the funding for calibration because that is included in their Barangay Nutrition Action Plans. This is to make sure that the scales used in the barangay are not broken because it can cause false positive results in malnutrition. The LGU, through NNC grants, not only ensure that the scales are in order but also the tools for obtaining length and height by providing 77 mounted height boards for the barangays. And this year, there is also a plan to buy infantometers to measure the length of babies. The height board can be turned into a length board but it is more convenient to use the infantometer. We always include in the plans even those improvements that the barangays can avail of.

Now, those assessed in OPT Plus who are malnourished- underweight, stunted and wasted, we enrolled them in the Routine Dietary Supplementation Program for 6-59-month children for 3 months to rehabilitate them. It started in 2016 and we are waiting until this year and in the following years to ensure the recovery of affected children especially during the pandemic. This is our regular feeding program for malnourished children. In 2019, even before the Covid-19 pandemic, we gave them food packs which included vegetables, fruits, eggs, bread, oil, sugar, iron-fortified rice, and biscuits. Last year, we got a lot of fresh supplies from our farmers with the help of MDRRMO funds, so we also increased our feeding last year and even helped the farmers. This year, this Feeding Program will be implemented again for 6-59-month-old children until the 3rd-4th quarter of the year.

At the same time, as we give out food packs to malnourished children, we also give multivitamins to those children whom we have assessed but were not part of the feeding activities.

We also conducted a supplemental feeding activity this year since the roving suite of municipal services called Komprehensibong Serbisyo sa Bayan Year 4 started, going around the barangays in various districts. We are also giving out fresh fruits and eggs door-to-door to pre-assessed malnourished children, because eggs are considered a superfood for children and pregnant women with high biological value protein, fats, choline which is good for the brain specifically memory and muscle control; there is also folate that is needed for rapid growth. Fruits are also given as sources of fiber and various vitamins to boost the immune system.

MNC also conducts monitoring of bakeries and retail stores selling fortified products, checking if all bakeries we have checked are using vitamin A-fortified flour and if retail stores are selling iodized salt and vitamin A-fortified cooking oil. We encourage retail store owners to follow our Municipal Ordinance No. 2, series of 2020, which mandates the use and sale of fortified products for consumers’ well-being. This is also in line with the Food Fortification Act or RA 8976

Our office is also involved in monitoring backyard gardens in households especially among the target beneficiaries, with the help of our Municipal Agriculture Office. For the past years we provided gardening inputs through the First 1000 Days Program and until now we are monitoring the impact on them. We sustain it by giving fresh produce or seedlings from our ECCD F1K Greenhouse managed by MAO. We are the ones who coordinate for the beneficiaries, cognizant of the fact that feeding is only a temporary, palliative solution. Thus, we also teach them to have their own sustainable food sources especially in the time of covid-19 pandemic. We have realized that in case the lockdown lasted longer, they would still have a source of proper nutrition.

We are also tasked to monitor school nutrition programs, specifically whether nutritious options are served in the school canteens. Beginning in 2019, we have been doing the rounds of all the local schools during opening of classes.

When it comes to capacity building, because our office is also mandated to conduct trainings not only for mothers in the barangays but also for nutrition workers, those who are our partners in the barangay, Barangay Nutrition Scholars and Barangay Health Workers, are also included as target population of our services. Since 2016, we provide them with various basic training courses like BNS Basic Course, e-OPT Plus Trainings, CGS, ECCD Card Refresher Trainings, ECCD F1K Phase1-3 Trainings, DOST-Pinoy Trainings, and Nutrition Early Warning System Trainings – all these to capacitate them, from the proper weighing of a baby to how to counsel a mother, how to assess a pregnant woman's child, etc. Because of this, the various PPAs from the national government can be easily implemented in the barangays.

Speaking of equipping the Barangay Nutrition Scholars, the MNAO is the office they directly report to and assess their performances based on their accomplishment reports. It should be noted that in 2016 the number of BNS was less than 20, but since the Mayor took office, he made sure that there would be a BNS in every barangay because, as he put it, “THEY ARE YOUR FOCAL PERSON IN THE BARANGAY,” Here in Bayambang, they are given an additional honorarium, aside from the honorarium they receive from the barangay. Through the Municipal Nutrition Committee, they are also annually given additional honorarium from the LGU based on their performance.

Aside from monitoring the BNS, the MNC also monitors the Barangay Nutrition Action Plan of each barangay. After the passing of Municipal Ordinance No. 2 series of 2020 sponsored by Councilor Benjamin Francisco de Vera and approved by the Sangguniang Bayan led by our Municipal Vice Mayor and through the support of our Mayor, it was determined that each barangay should have a budget allocation for the implementation of their local nutrition programs. It used to be that nutrition funding was allocated only for the municipal government, but since last year, almost every barangay has earmarked some funding for nutrition programs and that's why we thank our barangay captains who now have their own feeding programs and are actually providing supporting activities besides – if they were supportive then, now they are even more supportive. Hopefully, we can also conduct the Search for Outstanding Barangay Nutrition Committee to also recognize the efforts of our Barangay Nutrition Committees. …Because to really end malnutrition, not only the LGU or municipal level should move mountains, but also the whole community.

We are also involved in surveys and in coordinating researches, as we are now coordinating with the FNRI-DOST regarding a study on exclusive breastfeeding in various barangays of Bayambang, as well as the conduct of Nutrition Early Warning System surveys to minimize the hunger and malnutrition during specific quarters for planning purposes.

And yes, we also conduct Nutrition Month celebration – a banner project to disseminate various nutrition concerns annually, and this year our theme is "Malnutrisyon, Patuloy na Labanan. First 1000 Days Tutukan.” We have a set of various creative activities for the whole month whose main goal is to educate people and raise public awareness on proper nutrition.

Our office is also is the coordinator of even private sponsorship projects, for example, by private offices or companies or private persons who wants to conduct a project in the barangay. Proponents of various feeding projects routinely coordinate with us since we have the nutrition data of children in the barangays. They can freely reach us through our Facebook page, Nutrition Section LGU Bayambang.

Patients or older children with medical conditions and those who have limited capacity are also referred to us by the Mayor’s Action Center or by our doctors. We provide them with nutritional formulas with prescription from our doctors.

The foregoing sums up everything the Bayambang Municipal Nutrition Committee does from pregnancy until the child grows up, to coordinating all the support that can be obtained from the barangay and the community, just to realize and ensure Total Quality Service for our constituents in our area of concern, proper nutrition.