NNC7 to scale up nutrition network in Central Visayas

MINERVA BC NEWMAN

CEBU CITY – The National Nutrition Council (NNC) successfully organized the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Network nationwide in July and was officially launched in region 7 on August 13 as “SUN Strategy 3.0” with the Central Visayas Regional Nutrition Committee (CV-RNC) and members of the Sub National SUN Network, various local government units, nutrition focal persons and workers and barangay nutrition scholars ensuring that members and other potential partners are able to adopt the “SUN Strategy 3.0” for healthier, taller and brighter children in Central Visayas.

According to NNC-7 regional nutrition program coordinator Parolita Mission that Central Visayas is the first region in the country to organize the SUN academe, SUN business and SUN civil society networks its secretariat.

Mission said that “SUN Strategy 3.0” is the third phase of the SUN Movement 2021-2025, a strategy that focuses on collective, coherent, and evidenced-based action towards accelerated nutrition progress and change.

“Simply put; for everyone to work together to improve the region’s nutrition situation,” Mission added.

Mission said while the region is doing better in terms of prevalence of malnutrition, the magnitude of those who are affected remain to be a concern at the regional level with 60,819 children below five years old are suffering from long-term undernutrition or stunting based on the 2020 OPT Plus.

NNC7 bared that per 2020 Operation Timbang Plus covering children 0-59 months old, Central Visayas has 7.6 percent stunting prevalence or 45,810 warm bodies; 3.4 percent or 20,218 children are underweight while 1.8 percent or 10,771 children are wasting and 1.7 percent or 10,013 children are overweight.

The Regional Plan of Action for Nutrition (RPAN) however has targeted to reduce stunting from 37.7 percent to 24.1 percent in 2020 based on the 2015 Updating National Nutrition Survey baseline data.

Wasting among children on the other hand must be reduced from 7.0 percent to 4.9 percent and there is no increase in overweight children, again based on the same 2015 Updating National Nutrition Survey.

“SUN Strategy 3.0” aims to provide an overview of the SUN movement’s new phase and its salient features for partners and stakeholders to align the efforts of both the members of the regional nutrition committee and the SUN networks towards the reduction of the stunting prevalence figures to its lowest percentage and to eliminate all forms of wasting, underweight and overweight children not only in the region but in the country, Mission stated. (Photos: NNC/Google Images)

 

 

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