City’s 46th Nutrition Month Celebration will focus on community program

July 7, 2020

Due to the continued aggression against the covid-19 pandemic, the annual Nutrition Month celebration in the city of Koronadal has taken too many of the previous events, has now become a simple gathering and will give due attention to the community.

Guided with the theme, “Batang Pinoy, Sana Tall…Iwas Stunting, Sama All! Iwas All din sa COVID-19!” City Population Officer (CPOP) and City Nutrition Action Officer (CNAO) Nancy Adalin, said that this year’s nutrition event will commence with a simple Information Education Campaign (IEC) and proper nutrition advocacy instead of the traditional walkathon and Zumba.
The traditional “nutri quiz-on-air” where students from elementary and high school are the usual participants is also shifted into plain nutri quiz. Parents with children who are severely underweight are this year’s contender.

CNAO Adalin explained that some adjustments have been made to give focus on teaching the parents how to prepare affordable but nutritious food. She said that during their visit to the barangays, they observed that parents having severely underweight children are those homes having a large number of family members. Further, economic issues due to vices, as well as the mental and behavioral capacity of parents especially the mother who normally prepares food are also one of the contributing factors in the children’s weight problem.
Out of the intervening factors, Adalin encourages the city’s inhabitants to pursue backyard and community gardening. She also reminded everyone that no food is healthier than those from the yard and those food cooked at home using natural ingredients.

At the same time, due to limited movement and precautionary measures being implemented, large gatherings are still prohibited, so the city’s cooking competition, which is usually participated by people from the 27 barangays, is temporarily suspended. Meanwhile, in spite of the suspension, cooking contest will still be conducted in the barangays, and parents with severely underweight children are the participants. CNAO Adalin said that this is the best way to assess how participants prepare and cook food for their families.

The Nutrition Month celebration begins on July 1 and ends on the 30th. The month-long festival will commence with the cooking competition with a limited number of participants.