BAGUIO CITY(PIA) – The Regional Social Development Committee (RSDC) of the Cordillera Regional Development Council has adopted health and nutrition as its banner program for 2024 to help address malnutrition in the region.

Regional Nutrition Program Coordinator Bella Basalong said the banner program will be led by the Regional Implementation and Coordination Team(RICT) chaired by the Department of Health.

This aims to boost health and improve nutrition by conducting multi-year intervention programs to address malnutrition in identified areas, as aligned with the CAR Regional Development Plan 2023-2028, Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition, Regional/Local Nutrition Action Plan, and national objectives for health.

Basalong  said  the municipality of Paracelis in Mountain Province is the proposed pilot municipality following the technical assessment and review conducted by the RICT-RNC, and the recent core group meeting and planning for the nutrition projects.

Among the considerations for the selection of pilot areas include severity of stunting in terms of magnitude, and consistently high prevalence of stunting from 2017 to 2023, partially functional Municipal Nutrition Committee, and high poverty incidence based on  the 2018 Philippine Statistics Authority Small Area Poverty Estimates.

“Initial phase of the program is a consultation with the pilot LGU to firm up implementation partnerships and conduct initial assessment of the local health governance and nutrition situation, forwarding contextually relevant nutrition interventions,” Basalong said.

After the needs assessment, the social development sector agencies will enroll  programs, projects and activities toward the goal of convergent implementation. These programs will revolve around nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive programs, enabling mechanisms, and health leadership and governance that are aligned with the needs of the identified pilot area.

She reported that the DOH Central office, as the  RICT chair, has allotted  P1 million as initial fund for this year’s banner program activities centered on health and nutrition. The RSDC also allocated P50,000.00.

The RSDC rotates its banner program among the sectors on  social protection, education and manpower development, housing and livable communities, and health and nutrition. (JDP/MAWC-PIA-CAR)