Thirty-nine out of 80 barangays of Cebu City are affected by malnutrition, said former mayor Florentino Solon, the city’s consultant on Comprehensive Barangay Nutrition Program.
Solon delivered his report during the regular session of the City Council yesterday afternoon.
On the other hand, Cathy Yso of the Department of Social Welfare Services revealed that the city ranked fourth among cities in Central Visayas with highest prevalence of malnutrition with 7.35 percent.
The top 10 barangays in the city that have the highest incidence of malnutrition are T. Padilla, Sawang Calero, Kalunasan, Mambaling, Ermita, Pahina San Nicolas, Tejero, Inayawan, Pahina Central and Mabini.
They were declared under the state of calamity last year to enable the city to release its calamity funds to use in supplemental feeding programs.
Yso said that these barangays have 16 percent prevalence of malnutrition.
Solon said that four of these barangays - T. Padilla, Mambaling, Kalunasan and San Roque - will be piloted for the implementation of the Comprehensive Barangay Nutrition Program.
But with the feeding programs that the city has conducted, the incidence of malnutrition has slowly decreased.
In Mambaling, for example, of the 602 underweight children, 177 are already rehabilitated. The city expects to bring down the number once the nutrition program is properly implemented.
Solon said the CBNP has the objectives of educating the parents about undernourished children, breastfeeding and supplementary feeding, fruits and vegetables, fortified bread, iron and iodine supplementation and the circumstances of being underweight, among the over 40,000 residents of the four barangays.
The program encourages women to read and apply the healthy practices suggested in the materials given out, seeks to improve household foods through the increase access in nutritious intakes, eyes the distribution of packed foods added with vitamins and other necessary nutrients, and aims to improve the quality and health of pre-natal and post-natal women.
Solon is calling the attention of those who would like to volunteer to assist their operation. He said they are lacking manpower to manage thousands of residents living in those identified areas. — Jessica Ann Pareja, UP Mass comm intern/ LPM