ILOILO City – The Department of Health (DOH) has identified five municipalities in Western Visayas as priority areas for the Philippine Multi-Sectoral Nutrition Project (PMNP).
Badiangan, Dueñas, and Carles in Iloilo Province, along with Don Salvador Benedicto and Calatrava in Negros Occidental, will be the focal points of this four-year initiative, which kicked off in 2023 and is set to run until 2026.
PMNP is a collaborative effort between the DOH and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), adopting a comprehensive multi-sectoral approach to implement both nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive interventions across local government units.
According to Dr. Adriano Suba-an, DOH Region 6 director, the project aims to provide proper nutrition to 102,884 beneficiaries, including women of reproductive age, pregnant and lactating women, and children under five years old.
“These five municipalities were selected due to their significant malnutrition challenges, particularly stunting, as revealed by the Operation Timbang Plus (OPT Plus) conducted by the local government units,” Suba-an explained.
OPT Plus involves a routine growth assessment of children from birth to 59 months old in the barangays, conducted by trained teams that also engage in planning, follow-up, and quality control of data.
Stunting, a key focus of the PMNP, is recognized by the World Health Organization as a condition that severely restricts children’s physical and cognitive potential due to chronic or recurrent undernutrition.
“The statistics on stunting might not appear overwhelming at a glance, but a closer look at the barangay level shows areas that desperately need support,” said Suba-an.
To combat these nutrition concerns, DOH-6 is assisting the municipalities in formulating nutritional action plans, conducting educational campaigns, and providing logistical and financial support.
Ma. Primarosa Sorilla, Project Assistant 1 for Monitoring and Evaluation of the PMNP, noted that the DOH has already disbursed P13,960,454.65 to the five municipalities for nutritional programs and projects, with similar amounts expected in the subsequent disbursements to ensure the project’s effectiveness through 2026.
The project was officially launched by President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. in March 2023 under the theme “Better Bodies and Minds”. The President emphasized his administration’s commitment to addressing the nation’s nutritional needs as part of broader socio-economic development.
“Good nutrition is at the core of our national development. We recognize the dire consequences of malnutrition on learning, productivity, and even hereditary factors,” President Marcos remarked at the launch.
Highlighting the severity of nutritional issues based on findings from the Expanded National Nutrition Survey (ENNS), which recorded a high incidence of stunting, President Marcos affirmed that tackling these challenges is crucial for enhancing the country’s human capital.
PMNP represents a strategic, multi-sectoral community participatory approach that involves multiple governmental agencies and stretches from Luzon to the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, he said./PN
