Mayors urged to reactivate local nutrition bodies
The Department of Social Welfare and Development has enjoined local chief executives in Western Visayas to reactivate the Local Nutrition Committees in their respective localities.
The Regional Development Council 6, in its recent meeting, passed Resolution No. 2, Series of 2010, titled, “Resolution enjoining the Local Chief Executives to Reorganize/ Reactivate the Local Nutrition Committees in Western Visayas at all levels” as endorsed by DSWD Regional Director Minda Brigoli, who represented the Social Development Committee.
“We at the DSWD welcome this move. This will ensure that children will have proper nutrition, one big factor which gives way to proper development of children,” Brigoli said.
The RDC-Social Development Committee cited as basis the 7th National Nutrition Survey of FNRI-DOST in 2008 indicating a high magnitude of underweight children in Western Visayas among pre-school children ( zero to five years old) with 31.9 percent and among school children (six years to 10 years old) with 32.2 percent.
The resolution also states that Letter of Instruction 441 ordered the Department of Interior and Local Government to establish functional nutrition committees in every region, province, city, municipality and barangay.
Also, the RDC cited Presidential Decree 491 also known as the “Nutrition Act of the Philippines” which declared nutrition as the priority of the government to be implemented by all branches of the government in an integrated fashion; and Republic Act 7160 or the Local Government Code which devolved the responsibility for delivery of basic services including those related to nutrition to LGUs.
The resolution also stated that “local nutrition committees are vital in planning and coordinating nutrition program implementation” and that “the local chief executive as chair of the Local Nutrition Committee and local legislators have significant roles in the Nutrition Program.”
The DSWD 6 has been implementing the Food-for-School Program, which provides a daily ration of one kilo of rice per child per day, and has partnered with Kabisig ng Kalahi for the implementation of supplemental feeding programs in different LGUs in the region.
