Nutrition Month kicks off July 3

A nutrition caravan on July 3 will signal the start of the celebration of the Nutrition Month to be spearheaded by the Regional Nutrition Committee.

With the theme "Kumain ng right, para maging bright," this year's observance reinforces the vital role of nutrition in creating a bright child.

The nutrition caravan will start at the grounds of the Department of Health and will proceed to Talisay City.

Other event highlights and follow-through activities include vegetable workshop on July 12 to 14, Legislators Congress on July 17 to 19, Nutrition Action Officers Congress, barangay Nutrition Scholars congress, feeding program launch, special deworming campaign, nutrilympics, nutri-quiz bee, nutrition school on air, nutri-skul tours and the Regional Nutrition Awarding Ceremonies.

In the recent data of the Department of Education, one in every four schoolchildren in Central Visayas is underweight.

National figures also show a similar trend, prompting the government to focus on nutrition programs for school children this year.

DepEd-7's health and nutrition division said the situation in the region alone is "alarming".

This is especially true for the grade one level, which has the most number of underweight children.

The DepEd-7 nutritional status report for the last school year stated that 209,620 of over 800,000 public elementary school pupils weighed less than normal.

Of the number, 45,441 were grade one pupils.

Cebu Province topped the list, since 76,929 of its more than 300,000 schoolchildren have "below normal" weight.

Of the 15 school divisions, Toledo City ranks third, Lapu-Lapu is fifth, Talisay ranks seventh, Cebu City is eighth, while Mandaue and Danao are ninth and 13th, respectively.

However, it was also learned that nutrition has already improved this year.

DepEd-7 attributes the improvement to the School Milk Project, which helped 5,000 grade one pupils from 34 schools in the school divisions of Danao City, Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu City, Cebu Province and Mandaue City.

The government also conducted a Breakfast Feeding Program where 3,500 grade one pupils from 23 schools in three school divisions received noodles fortified with vitamin A, iron and iodine.

The Food for School program also benefited grade one pupils from the country's fifth and sixth-class municipalities. Children in these areas were given one kilo of rice per day after school.

The program improved the attendance rate of pupils.

There was also a supplementary feeding of about 100,000 underweight pupils from grades two to six and pre-schoolers.

However, Parolita Mission, regional nutrition program coordinator of the National Nutrition Council-7, said they already appealed to socio-civic groups, like the Rotary Club, to not only help in the nutrition education program but in providing livelihood for parents as well.

She agrees that feeding programs promote a "mendicancy attitude" and do not have a lasting impact on nutrition campaigns. - Jasmin R. Uy