DAVAO CITY (PIA) — The Department of Health and the National Nutrition Council XI launched the 11th Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition (PPAN) 2023-2028 for Mindanao leg, which serves as the country’s blueprint of action for nutrition improvement.
Held at SM Lanang, Davao City on Sept. 13, the event gathered more than 300 attendees from the national government agencies, local government units, academe, business sector, civil society alliance, youth, development partners, and local key stakeholders.
NNC Executive Director Dr. Azucena Dayanghirang (center), DOH-XI Regional Director Dr. Annabelle Yumang (right), and NNC-XI Program Coordinator Dr. Maria Teresa Ungson (left) discuss the content of the PPAN 2023-2028 during a presscon for the Mindanao Launch of the PPAN 2023-2028 on September 13, 2023.
The PPAN is an integral part of the Philippine Development Plan, and lays out targets and priority actions to guide the national government agencies, local government units and other stakeholders in addressing all forms of malnutrition.
DOH Assistant Secretary and NNC Executive Director Dr. Azucena Dayanghirang said that the six-year plan is aligned with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s Philippine Development Plan, which focuses on the nutrition condition of all ages in the country.
Dayanghirang discussed on the current nutrition situation of the Philippines, and how PPAN will address the triple burden of malnutrition in the country, citing the undernutrition like stunting and wasting, overnutrition such as overweight and obese, and micronutrient deficiencies like iron deficiencies disorder.
The 2022 NNC-XI Operation Timbang Plus data showed that 5.8 percent were stunting cases, 1.1 percent wasting, and 1.6 perccent overweight in Davao Region for children under five years old, mostly from Davao del Sur, Davao Occidental, and Davao del Norte.
With stunting being the highest number of cases in the region, Dayanghirang said that stunting needs a special focus among their different programs.
Meanwhile, DOH-XI Regional Director Dr. Annabelle Yumang thanked all the stakeholders for a shared efforts on the nutrition programs in the region, such as the need for all municipalities to have a nutritionist dietician to further address nutrition and more breastfeeding-friendly establishments especially in the malls.
NNC-XI Program Coordinator Dr. Maria Teresa Ungson, on the other hand, said that they have networked with different sectors in society, such as the academe, government agencies, business, and youth, to support the nutrition movement, to establish the Scaling Up Nutrition Network. (ETI/CLC, PIA-XI)
