Complementary food for Antique town

SOURCE: The Daily Guardian

PARENTS and guardians feed their children with complementary food from DOST.

HAMTIC, Antique – Thirty 30 malnourished children from 0-5 years old in Hamtic, Antique received complementary food such as the Rice-Mongo Ready-to-cook Blend and polvoron developed by the Department of Science and Technology-Food and Nutrition Research Institute (DOST-FNRI).

Malnutrition is not just a public health issue. It is also an issue of access to nutritious but affordable food and access to nutrition education, especially for poor Filipino families.

According to the DOST-FNRI in the “2016 Updating of Nutritional Status of Selected Filipinos,” 3 out of 10 children aged 0-5 years old in the region are underweight.

The DOST-FNRI data also shows that 4 out of 10 Bicolano children in the same age group are stunted.

Antique has the highest malnutrition rate among the provinces in Western Visayas. Based on the 2016 National Nutrition Commission data, the province has an under-nutrition rate of 6.86%.

The DOST-FNRI 2013 National Nutrition Survey (NNS) showed the malnutrition rates in Antique particularly for children 0-60 months old – 29.2% underweight, 38.7% under height or wasting and 9.2% wasting.

According to the National Nutrition Survey (NNS), malnutrition rates increased between 6 and 24 months old. This is a vulnerable period when breastfeeding is no longer sufficient to meet the nutritional requirements of the child, hence the complementary feeding.

Recognizing the critical role of science and technology in the development of marginalized communities, DOST developed and implemented the Community Empowerment Through Science and Technology (CEST) Program.

The DOST in partnership with other government agencies and working sectors will contribute S&T interventions to help solve the problem.

DOST-6 through its Antique Provincial S&T Center is taking up the challenge of community empowerment through CEST. The program is designed to deliver a holistic package of interventions to the least-developed areas of the country and address their various development constraints.

DOST-6 partnered with the University of Antique (UA) and the Provincial Government of Antique, with support from the Office of Senator Loren Legarda, to introduce the Complementary Feeding Program under the health and nutrition component of CEST in the municipality of Hamtic on July 30, 2018.

The project focuses on the feeding program using DOST-developed complementary food and capability building on food and nutrition. The launching of the program covered the barangays of Caridad, Piapi 1, Malandog and Lapaz in Hamtic, Antique.

The conduct of complementary feeding using the DOST-FNRI developed Complementary food shall target the malnourished children ages 6-35 months old in an attempt to reverse growth stunting during this period.

Barangay Nutrition Scholars (BNS)/ Barangay Health Workers (BHWs) will be trained on the basics of Complementary Feeding and in turn, will be in charge of the distribution of the complementary food to the target children beneficiaries.

The BNS/BHWs will also handle the monitoring and will ensure that the feeding schedule is strictly observed and followed.

Weighing of the target children beneficiaries will also be conducted before and after feeding to determine the impact of the activity.

The activity aims to help address malnutrition in the area through the conduct of feeding to malnourished children using the DOST-FNRI developed complementary food for 120 days.

Also present in the launching were personnel from DOST, UA, LGUs and the Barangay Nutrition Scholars (BNS), Municipal Health Officer (MHO) and Municipal Nutrition Action Officers.