A result of continued efforts on implementing nutrition programs, San Juan City bagged eight awards in the recent 2017 National Nutrition Awarding Ceremony of the National Nutrition Council (NNC), including the First Runner-up in the Outstanding LGU (local government unit) in Nutrition Program Management.
San Juan City also received with the LGU the Continuous Improvement in Nutrition Program Management; Best LGU in Documentation; Best LGU in Resource Generation and Mobilization; First Runner-Up Oustanding Barangay in Nurtrition Program Management (Barangay Onse Nutrition Committee); Outstanding Barangay Nutrition Scholar of San Juan City (Nenita Robles); San Juan Nutrition Committee for Active City in Regional Nutrition Activities and Most Active City Nutrition Action Officer Award (Dr. Rosalie Sto. Domingo). Sto. Domingo is the assistant city health officer and acting city nutrition officer.
“We are happy because for the first time, we received a total of eight awards,” Mayor Guia Gomez said in an interview with the BusinessMirror. She added that from 2014 to 2015, the city was only recognized twice.
“Since I really want a healthy citizenry, I prioritized nutrition even breasfeeding to make sure babies and mothers are healthy. Look at us now, we were given these awards,” Gomez said.
She added the city’s nutrition budget increased by almost 500 percent from 2015. This was made possible by mainstreaming nutrition programs of City Nutrition Council (CNC) that Gomez chairs and its member-agencies.
Given the full support of Gomez, Sto. Domingo said they focused on improving child nutrition and obesity.
“This time, we involved our stakeholders. So this is not only the LGUs and barangay awards, but the stakeholders, as well,” Sto. Domingo said.
She was referring to the “Galing at Gandang Ginang ng San Juan [3G] Club” project in 2016 of the CNC in partnership with non-governmental organizations, hospitals, academe and business sector.
The 3G aims to ensure the child gets the best nutrition during the first 1,000 days of life by providing mothers good maternal care during pregnancy, lactation, promoting exclusive breastfeeding and proper complementary feeding, and providing essential health care to both mother and child.
To address overnutrition, as well, the CNC conducted Zumba exercises and Katutubong Palarong Pinoy, while to improve wide dissemination and promotion and good nutrition, LED boards were used and placed at the city hall and Pinaglabanan Street to display nutrition messages, such as the “10 Kumainments” and the “Pabasa sa Nutrisyon” classes in barangays,
Gomez said the CNC continues to use integrated approaches and strategies in its effort to scale up nutrition and bring about nutrition improvement in the city.
Domingo said even the NNC acted as their “shepherd, guiding us if we are doing the right thing in addressing obesity and underweight”.
There were also nutrition-relevant ordinances passed in 2016, including a city ordinance in support of the “Saktong Iodine sa Asin Campaign” of the Department of Health to ensure that all iodized salt sold in the markets and retail stores contain the required amount of iodine and an ordinance requiring all Barangay Nutrition Committees to allocate at least P50,000 for the Barangay Nutrition Program yearly.
“I hope that next year we can bag many awards, but the most important thing is, we are already gaining grounds in fighting malnutrition,” Gomez concluded.