CEBU, Philippines - Senator Loren Legarda wants every barangay in the country to have a Barangay Nutrition Worker responsible for delivering nutrition services and other related activities to the community, such as community health, backyard food production, environmental sanitation, supplemental feeding and family planning efforts.
In a statement furnished to The FREEMAN, Legarda said that there is a need to review and update Presidential Decree 1569, the law that creates Barangay Nutrition Program, given the current health and economic situation of the country.
Legarda said that in order to help the Barangay Nutrition Workers had to improve the quality of health and nutrition services they provide, they shall undergo training programs and be given incentives such giving them a chance to avail of scholarship grants to study a related field in any state college.
“They shall also be given a monthly allowance,” the lady legislator added.
According to her, there must be serious and earnest efforts to confront malnutrition at the grassroots level as according to the Food and Nutrition Research Institute, an alarming 4 million Filipino children are still malnourished.
On the same hand, under-nutrition also affects 28.4 percent of pregnant women, she said, adding that this creates a vicious cycle because underweight pregnant women are likely to deliver babies with low birth weight, who in turn, become vulnerable to under-nutrition, poor health, and delayed psychosocial development.
Legarda said that everyone must do everything to stop the cycle of malnutrition plaguing the country.
She added that the importance of adequate maternal nutrition and adequate intake of proper food and nutrients cannot be stressed enough.
“This is where our Barangay Nutrition Workers come in. They can educate the Filipino people in each and every barangay how to eat and live right. Promoting a healthy citizenry will go a long way towards the country’s economic and social development,” she further stated in her statement. (THE FREEMAN)