PRESIDENT Marcos Jr., yesterday urged lawmakers to craft laws that would address malnutrition which he called a “menace” that is taking a toll on people’s learning ability, productivity, and employment, among others.
The President, at the launch of the four-year Philippine Multisectoral Nutrition Project (PMNP) at the Manila Hotel in Manila, said his administration is committed to finding solutions to address the persistent threats not only of malnutrition but also of of hunger and “other paramount social problems and concerns.”
Marcos said there is a need to capacitate people to become industrious, potent, and productive Filipinos.
“This is the reason why this administration has put a high priority, and considered it of strategic importance that lies in the areas of food security, health care, and education, amongst others. Sometimes we do not think about it and therefore do not often realize it, but lodged at the very core of all this is the aspect of good nutrition for our people. On the one hand, we have acknowledged the harrowing state of affairs that hunger and food inadequacy continue to be of paramount national, and for that matter, international concerns,” he said.
The President said he is committed to providing a healthy and progressive Philippines to the current and future generation. To do this, Marcos said, he has directed the Department of Health (DOH) to work with other government agencies in implementing nutritional policies for Filipinos.
“We must continue to exert our best efforts to ensure a well-orchestrated and coordinated strategy to implement not only the PMNP but all related nutritional programs throughout the country, so as to be able to get a maximum effect for all our efforts,” he said.
“Let me also take this opportunity to enjoin our lawmakers for their assistance in this endeavor by helping us develop and enshrine into law policies that will help eradicate malnutrition and uplift the standards of primary health care and nutrition in the Philippines,” he added.
The PMNP is a four-year project led by government agencies like the DOH, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Department of Agriculture, National Nutrition Council, and the Food and Nutrition Research Institute of the Department of Science and Technology. It is geared towards achieving nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive intervention programs across local government units (LGUs).
Among the project’s goals is to strengthen the LGUs’ capacities in terms of primary healthcare delivery and maternal and child health services.
The President said healthcare is usually not a top priority of LGUs because there is little capacity, skills and manpower available at the local level to achieve all the threshold levels but through the PMNP, they will be able to do their share to help address malnutrition.
“On the ground, this project will deliver services straight to our LGUs most in need of intervention, in the form of primary health [care] support and nutrition services, including Early Childhood Care and Development (services), not to mention access to clean water and sanitation, technical information, training and financing, amongst other facets,” Marcos said.
He said ensuring nutrition and food security are among the primary focus of the administration to achieve long-term, socio-economic development to ensure food security and health for every Filipino.
“We must be serious in its pursuit, in the same way that we do our other administration priorities. This program will involve and improve the lot of our people across the board, especially those who we put in the poor and marginalized category. It is also our hope that, through this project, not only LGUs but all Filipino families will emerge more informed and capacitated in the area of good nutritional practices… We are counting on our LGUs’ full support and our people’s cooperation to guarantee the success of the PMNP,” the President said.
