BANGUED, Abra (PIA) – The Provincial Nutrition Committee (PNC) here in the province strengthens its advocacy campaign with the upcoming celebration of the National Nutrition Month this July with the theme “Sa PPAN: Sama-sama sa Nutrisyong Sapat Para sa Lahat!.”
Acting Provincial Nutrition Action Officer (PNAO) Glenda Belisario reported that the PNC has lined up activities primarily on advocacy, and information, education and communication campaigns on nutrition.
The PNC scheduled advocacy activities for the Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition (PPAN) for Abrenians to know more about the PPAN and its benefit to the health and nutritional status of the province, Belisario said.
The PPAN provides a strategic framework to address all forms of malnutrition in the Philippines until 2028.
Belisario said monitoring and evaluation of local level plan implementation of nutrition programs will also be conducted in selected towns on the second week of July.
“We will also conduct the MELLPI to the selected towns, and these towns might be those that are listed in the top 10 highest prevalence of malnutrition to check the functionality of their local nutrition committees,” she said.
She explained that the PNC will be using the MELLPI Pro Tool for the scheduled monitoring and evaluation among LGUs.
The province of Abra still has the highest malnutrition prevalence among provinces in the region in spite of the consistent downtrend since 2022.
Belisario said the prevalence of malnutrition among 0–59-month children has improved, and there was a decrease in all the five categories namely underweight, stunting, wasting and overweight, based on the Operation Timbang Plus result for 2023.
The PNC continues to lead efforts in addressing this poor nutritional status of the province.
One of the physical fitness activities for the Nutrition Month celebration is a Zumba Dance on July 5. The PNC is enjoining all offices to participate. (Christian Allister G. Tubadeza-PIA CAR, Abra)
