A TOTAL of 266 sacks of 24-kg and one sack of 16-kg iron-fortified rice arrived at the Cebu City Nutrition Office on Tuesday, May 4, 2021, as the food commodity for the 30-day dietary supplementation of 1,600 pregnant women in Cebu City.
The National Nutrition Council bought and delivered the rice as part of its Tutok Kainan Supplementation Program (TKSP), one of the measures under the National Dietary Supplementation Program of the Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition 2017-2022.
“One of the objectives of TKSP is to prevent stunting in children by giving nutritious food commodities to nutritionally at-risk pregnant women and children six to 23 months old,” said Dr. Parolita Mission, NNC 7 regional nutrition program coordinator.
Based on the partial results of the 2020 Operation Timbang Plus (OTP) that local government units (LGUs) in Region 7 submitted to NNC 7, there is a 7.6 percent prevalence of stunted children in 2020 (or 45,810) from 10.25 percent in 2019 (or 75,535). The OTP covers children zero to 59 months old.
According to NNC 7, the nutritional challenge Central Visayas is facing is stunting or short for age because of its critical impact on the child’s ability to grow, thrive, and achieve full potential.