Cebu Provincial Nutrition Council distributes height boards

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu Provincial Nutrition Council (CPNC) distributed 100 height boards to 100 barangays in eleven selected municipalities in the province as part of the Operation Timbang Plus (OPT Plus) program of the National Nutrition Council Region 7 (NNC-7).

OPT Plus is an annual weighing and length/height-taking of all children aged 0-71 months in the community to identify and locate families with malnourished preschool children, and determine the overall nutrition situation in the barangay.

NNC-7 in a statement said that the purpose of monitoring the growth of a child is to determine whether the child is growing “normally” or has a growth problem or trend that needs to be addressed.

The municipalities of Argao, Asturias, Balamban, Catmon, Dumanjug, Ginatilan, Liloan, Samboan, San Remigio, Santander, and Sogod were prioritized as there were barangays  in these areas that did not have or have unserviceable height boards which could cause delay in the conduct of the annual OPT Plus.

NNC-7 said that the  OPT Plus results would serve as basis in the delivery of appropriate interventions to affected children by the concerned agencies.

It added that the  distribution of the height boards was pursued by the CPNC so that Barangay Nutrition Scholars will have an accurate measuring tool for height taking and for them to have timely data that can be used for nutrition planning.

Moreover, results of OPT Plus will provide information on the nutritional status of the preschoolers and the community in general, thus, providing information on the effectiveness of the local nutrition program.

Annually, NNC processes OPT Plus results and generates a list of nutritionally-at-risk cities/municipalities which are disseminated to government and non-government organizations so that these areas are given priority attention in nutrition programming planning and intervention. (FREEMAN)