August 24, 2014
Each year, our school participates in a “Nutrition Month” celebration. You may ask, “What is ‘Nutrition month’?” “Nutrition Month” is an annual campaign held every July to create greater awareness of nutrition among Filipinos. It is mandated under Presidential Decree, The Nutrition Act of the Philippines. The 40th annual nutrition campaign was this year called “Kalamidad Paghandaan: Gutom at Malnutrisyon Agapan” or, “Prepare for emergencies to prevent hunger and malnutrition”.
The objectives of this year’s campaign were to:
- promote interventions to address nutritional needs in emergencies and disasters including preparedness, response and recovery;
- mobilize responders particularly the local nutrition clusters and stakeholders to address gaps in nutrition in emergencies response from national to barangay levels; and,
- increase awareness among families and individuals on coping and resiliency strategies to prevent malnutrition and worsening of nutritional status in times of emergencies and disasters.
Nutrition in emergencies is also important because malnutrition in the Philippines is a pre-existant problem and can, therefore, worsen when emergencies and disasters strike. Based on the 2011 National Nutrition Survey (NNS) of the Food and Nutrition Research Institute-Department of Science and Technology (FNRI-DOST),
- 20.2% of children aged 0-5 years are underweight;
- 7.3% of children aged 0-5 years are wasted;
- 8.5% of children aged 6-10 years are wasted; and,
- 33.6% of children aged 5-10 years are stunted.
Moreover, results of the 2008 National Nutrition Survey of FNRI-DOST showed that,
- 19.5% of Filipinos suffer from anemia; 55.7% of infants 6-11 months are most affected followed by 42.5% of pregnant women;
- 15.2% of 6 months – 5 years old children have Vitamin A deficiency;
- Iodine deficiency among 6-12 year old children, a marker group for the entire population, is within acceptable levels; however, iodine level among pregnant women is below recommended level; and, 66.9% of households did not meet their dietary energy requirement.
During our celebration, the children had various presentations showing vegetables while reciting poems and singing nutrition songs. The parents have enjoyed selling fruits and veggies by the roadside as you can see in the pictures below.
We are very grateful to God for His provision for our children. Please continue to pray with us so that their needs would be met both in the natural as well as in the spiritual.
Thank you for making this event possible!
