The National Nutrition Council (NNC) recognized outstanding nutrition committees and focal points in Central Luzon.
The 2023 Gitnang Luzon Gawad Parangal sa Nutrisyon serves as the climax of the Monitoring and Evaluation of Local Level Plan Implementation in terms of nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive programs.
In her welcome message, NNC Regional Nutrition Program Coordinator Ana Maria Rosaldo said the ceremony is a great opportunity to recognize local government units (LGUs) and local nutrition focal points or nutrition workers who work hard to maintain their exceptional performance in the field of nutrition program management to further reduce the number of malnourished and ensure the availability of sufficient and nutritious food for their constituents.
With this, she congratulated the awardees and thanked the evaluators from the different regional line agencies for not giving up on freeing Central Luzon from malnutrition and for striving to achieve adequate nutrition for all.
For her part, Regional Nutrition Committee (RNC) Chairperson and Department of Health Regional Director Corazon Flores said that to make a community healthy, one must start by making a child happy and healthy.
“We can all do something for our children in our community to be happy. It is through the efforts of everyone. We can start with our nutrition scholars doing the weighing or our Operation Timbang, and reporting the malnourished children to the barangay captains to implement appropriate programs. The barangay can lobby to the municipal government for additional funds for programs like supplementary feeding,” she suggested.
Flores stressed that it is not only the private sector and government working together to make this happen, but that it should start within the family.
This is the reason why the RNC and its counterparts at the local level teach mothers on how to ensure the proper nutrition of their children.
“Raising happy and healthy kids is a concerted effort of everyone in the community. Thank you on behalf of every child that you have helped become well-nourished because a well-nourished child will have a better future. The chance of getting sick is reduced, they become smarter, they can help the development of the country because each one of us has helped a child to be happy in our community,” Flores said.
Awardees this year include Mabalacat City in Pampanga and Talavera in Nueva Ecija which bagged the Nutrition Honor Awards, the highest award that NNC gives to LGUs.
The municipality of Guiguinto in Bulacan, on the other hand, clinched the Consistent Regional Outstanding Winner in Nutrition Award.
A total of 20 LGUs were likewise conferred with the 2022 Green Banner Seal of Compliance namely Bagac, Dinalupihan, Hermosa, and Orani in Bataan; Bustos, Doña Remedios Trinidad, Guiguinto, Marilao, Pandi, San Miguel, Baliwag in Bulacan; Bongabon, Guimba, Nampicuan, and Quezon in Nueva Ecija; La Paz in Tarlac; and Botolan, Candelaria, Castillejos, and San Antonio in Zambales.
Outstanding local nutrition focal points were also cited; as well as the provincial and city outstanding barangay nutrition scholars.
In addition, special awards were also given to LGUs who are most visible on social media, and those who passed nutrition ordinances for 2022. (CLJD/MJSC-PIA 3)