The prevalence rate of malnutrition in the province has continuously decreased by 9.2 percent, which is below the national prevalence rate of 30 percent.
Provincial Health Officer (PHO) and Provincial Nutrition Action Officer Dr. Liland Estacion said every year, the stunting rate is decreasing from 9.6 percent in 2023 to 9.2 percent in 2024.
Meanwhile, the prevalence rate of wasting slightly dropped from 2.4 percent in 2023 to 2.3 percent in 2024, while severely underweight children decreased to 4.9 percent.
“So our province is way below the national malnutrition rate as our local government has a lot of nutrition programs being implemented together with other partner agencies,” said Estacion during the Kapihan sa PIA Forum held in observance of the 51st National Nutrition Month this July.
Estacion attributed the improving nutritional status in the province to human resource development trainings on nutrition and organic vegetable production, healthy food preparation training, financial literacy, and food safety for malnourished communities in 10 identified local government units (LGUs).
These interventions and food security programs are implemented by the Provincial Agriculture Office (PAO) to complement the nutrition programs of the health office.
In the same forum, Provincial Agriculturist Manuel Caduyac said his office trains community youth groups under the 4H Clubs in food preparation, including making noodles from squash.
PAO also expanded the “Gulayan at Palaisdaan Alay sa Kabataan” or GPAK program to 85 public schools and extended it to the communities to involve the parents of the students.
“We are also giving free vegetable seeds to the schools and providing technical assistance to help the students regarding vegetable gardening especially as we are into organic vegetable production,” said Caduyac.
To augment nutrition programs, the province provides micronutrient supplements, dietary supplementation, and support for optimal infant and young child feeding practices.
Estacion said the provincial government also allocated a substantial budget for its nutrition programs.
“We bought a weighing scale, height board for LGUs because we need to calibrate the weighing scale to validate and get the correct weight of the children,” said Estacion.
As partner and member of the Provincial Nutrition Committee, the National Food Authority and the Department of Science and Technology assisted the PHO in monitoring and calibrating the scale in all LGUs and in schools.
“We are also thankful to our stakeholders who helped us in the first 1,000 days of life. We distributed MNS or multiple micronutrient supplementation to pregnant women, vitamin A, and deworming to children to six priority municipalities,” Estacion said.
The medical and legal social services of the provincial government also provide training for the youth and mothers on how to prepare nutritious meals. (PIA-7 Negros Oriental)