The National Nutrition Council named the Taguig City government as one of the 2nd Year Consistent Regional Outstanding Winner in Nutrition Maintenance Awardees.
The Council gave a plaque and P200,000 cash prize to Taguig City Nutrition Committee members during the 2018 Nutrition Awarding Ceremony held at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City on July 31.
Taguig City is the sole recipient of the award from the National Capital Region.
“It is an honor for our beloved city to receive its 2nd Year CROWN Maintenance Award—an award that serves as a testament to our city’s collaborative hard work in providing quality health programs for our constituents,” Mayor Laarni Cayetano said.
In giving the award, the NNC cited the city’s various programs to eradicate malnutrition which include:
The “Laging Alagaan Nutrisyon ni Inay” (Taking Care of Mothers’ Nutrition), where pregnant women, especially those still in their teenage years, are taught a balanced diet and a healthy lifestyle to ensure a safe pregnancy; and
The “Operation Timbang Plus” in which the height and weight of children up to 5 years old in each barangay are collated in order to determine the child’s nutritional status (either underweight, severely underweight, wasted, severely wasted, stunted, severely stunted, overweight, obese, normal) and from there, come up with programs such as exclusive breastfeeding for infants up to 6 months and appropriate complementary feeding programs.
Taguig also has the Dietary Supplementation Program under which undernourished children in the city are fed for 120 days to help them get the nutrition their bodies need.
The city government also encourages families with children to set up their own urban community vegetable gardens by providing seedlings, planting materials and conducting farming classes.
“I am beyond grateful to all those involved that we have achieved this prestigious recognition. With this outstanding collaborative effort, we are now one step closer in achieving the National Nutrition Council’s top award – the Nutrition Honor Award, which will serve as a legacy that our administration never stops its fight against malnutrition,” said Mayor Cayetano.
With the conferment of the 2nd Year CROWN Maintenance Award, the city now aims for the Nutrition Honor Award which is the highest award given by the NNC.
For three consecutive years (2013 to 2015), Taguig City was awarded the prestigious Green Banner award by the NNC-National Capital Region (NNC-NCR). The recognition is given to local government units that displayed an outstanding performance in implementing its nutrition programs.
This consistent performance allowed Taguig City to receive the CROWN Award in 2016 and 1st Year CROWN Maintenance Award in 2017.
Under the administration of Cayetano, there was a significant decrease in Taguig City’s malnutrition prevalence rate from 3.82 percent in 2011 to 0.22 percent in 2018.
Just recently, NNC-NCR recognized Taguig’s City Nutrition Committee by awarding the Certificates of Recognition for being Best in Documentation, Best in Resource Generation and Mobilization during the Regional Nutrition Awarding Ceremony of National Nutritional Council at Heritage Hotel in Pasay City last July 27.