UP Manila, NNC crafting handbook to address PH malnutrition

The University of the Philippines Manila (UPM) and the National Nutrition  Council (NNC) are working on a new handbook to address the issue of malnutrition in the country.

Among the contents of the  "Barangay Nutrition Scholar Handbook on Community Nutrition Services  (Book III)" are the basic competencies required under the Community  Nutrition Services National Certificate II (CNS NC II) of the Technical  Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) certification.

These basic competencies include assessing the nutritional status of children under five years old; assisting the barangay nutrition committee in their functions; assisting in the delivery of nutrition and related services; promotion and adoption of positive nutrition behaviors and monitoring and evaluating nutrition programs.

The handbook will guide Barangay Nutrition Scholars to combat malnutrition in the country, which is dealing with undernutrition, including stunting (low height-for-age), wasting (low weight-for-height), and underweight (low weight-for-age); increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity; and micronutrient deficiency.

Undernutrition usually results from poor diet, but processed foods and those containing refined sugar are generally blamed for obesity, which in turn, causes heart disease and diabetes, UP Manila said in a statement on Saturday.

“The goal of the government is to reduce the burden of malnutrition among the  Filipinos because investment in nutrition can lead to economic development,” Dr. Kim Leonard Dela Luna, Associate Professor of the  Department of Nutrition of UP Manila, said.

According to a  Food and Nutrition Research Institute 2021 survey, one in every five school-age Filipino children is underweight and stunted.

The same survey also revealed that one in every 15 school-age children is wasted, and one in every 10 school-age children is overweight.

Meanwhile, one in every five adolescents is stunted.

The upcoming handbook is the third material for Barangay Nutrition Scholars.

In 2010, NNC developed reference materials for the five-day basic course for Barangay Nutrition Scholars.

In 2014, the NCC, the Department of Health, and the UP Manila College of  Public Health published the first handbook for Barangay Nutrition  Scholars. — DVM, GMA Integrated News