MAP convenes multi-sectoral meeting on malnutrition, child stunting
Published May 29, 2023 03:50 am
Forty-one organizations responded to the call to be part of "Campaign Against Malnutrition and Child Stunting" (CAMACS) convened by the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) with various stakeholders to operationalize the campaign.
MAP President Benedicta Du-Baladad stressed that “Preventing child stunting matters because malnutrition makes our children vulnerable to risks of infection and if unchecked, will unduly tax our health system’s resources. Child stunting affects cognitive development, and this can later on have an impact on their capacity to be productive, resulting in lower economic output and poorer quality of life. And that becomes a major impediment to competitiveness and national development.”
The meeting was held so various groups can share the activities they are undertaking and have a clearer picture of the ongoing initiatives on CAMACS. Such exchange can establish a baseline and identify the gaps where appropriate interventions can be role planned and organized. The group agreed that resources can be best maximized if efforts are complementary and coordinated to get best results.
In her statement, Baladad stressed that the MAP Campaign is not meant to take over or duplicate the many worthy efforts that had been done, are being undertaken and will be implemented in the future.
“What MAP wants is to see where it can contribute most effectively, working in collaboration with the other stakeholders”, she said, emphasizing that “the goal is to help eradicate malnutrition and contribute to the improvement of the overall nutritional status of Filipino children to prevent stunting.”
In the same meeting, the Governor-in-Charge of the MAP Cluster on Resilience and Recovery, former NEDA Secretary Cielito Habito, emphasized the urgency of addressing the problem as the workforce in the decades ahead will be in a tech-driven environment, given the Fourth Industrial Revolution being ushered in by the Digital Age and Artificial Intelligence (AI).
“We cannot afford to have a major segment of our abundant workforce ill-equipped to meet the demands of the future AI-driven economy, by having lower mental capacities due to impaired brain development stemming from stunting at an early age,” said Dr. Habito.
The MAP had already started mobilizing for the CAMACS, grouping its activities into three major directions: educate, encourage, engage.
The Educate group will undertake campaign to promote awareness about the problem, using appropriate communication and messaging tools to reach target population of mothers and children.
The Encourage group will work towards pursuit of strategic policy reforms and enabling laws that will ensure that programs like this will be given support and focus by those that are tasked to implement these. The private sector can work with the academe, the policymakers, the legislators for the development of such policies, reforms, academic research, data analytics, legislations, or regulations in fields that will have an impact on malnutrition and child stunting, such as food security, health and others.
For Engage, this group will be doing an inventory of ongoing initiatives directed towards this Campaign, and enable partnerships by linking them so that they can work together to cover more grounds for effective resource utilization, impact and reach.
The move of the private sector to support CAMACS was welcomed by the National Nutrition Council (NNC). Jovita B. Raval, NNC chief of nutrition and information division, was one of the resource speakers, discussing the nutrition situationer in the Philippine context.
Raval said that “The government is now open to participation of the private sector while ensuring that there is no conflict of interest. There are many ways for the private sector to participate and there are now platforms that are available, such as the Pilipinas Kontra Gutom and the Scaling Up Nutrition Movement.”
She also gave examples of activities that the private sector can support to improve nutrition, such as enabling quality work environment for women and children; establishing lactation stations and provision of breastfeeding breaks, complying with EO 51 for manufacturers of breastmilk substitutes, among others.
Diane Chua, managing director of Tribal Worldwide PH, who worked with NNC for its communications program said that edutainment can be an effective tool to engage and interest audience.
She also mentioned that MAP and its members can use their spheres of influence to support NNC from a personal, organizational and societal scale to not just raise awareness for this issue but also to help address the first 1000 days of a child to prevent stunting.
The group will meet again to further concretize the collaboration to jointly help reduce child stunting in the country.
The meeting was held so various groups can share the activities they are undertaking and have a clearer picture of the ongoing initiatives on CAMACS. Such exchange can establish a baseline and identify the gaps where appropriate interventions can be role planned and organized. The group agreed that resources can be best maximized if efforts are complementary and coordinated to get best results.
In her statement, Baladad stressed that the MAP Campaign is not meant to take over or duplicate the many worthy efforts that had been done, are being undertaken and will be implemented in the future.
“What MAP wants is to see where it can contribute most effectively, working in collaboration with the other stakeholders”, she said, emphasizing that “the goal is to help eradicate malnutrition and contribute to the improvement of the overall nutritional status of Filipino children to prevent stunting.”
In the same meeting, the Governor-in-Charge of the MAP Cluster on Resilience and Recovery, former NEDA Secretary Cielito Habito, emphasized the urgency of addressing the problem as the workforce in the decades ahead will be in a tech-driven environment, given the Fourth Industrial Revolution being ushered in by the Digital Age and Artificial Intelligence (AI).
“We cannot afford to have a major segment of our abundant workforce ill-equipped to meet the demands of the future AI-driven economy, by having lower mental capacities due to impaired brain development stemming from stunting at an early age,” said Dr. Habito.
The MAP had already started mobilizing for the CAMACS, grouping its activities into three major directions: educate, encourage, engage.
The Educate group will undertake campaign to promote awareness about the problem, using appropriate communication and messaging tools to reach target population of mothers and children.
The Encourage group will work towards pursuit of strategic policy reforms and enabling laws that will ensure that programs like this will be given support and focus by those that are tasked to implement these. The private sector can work with the academe, the policymakers, the legislators for the development of such policies, reforms, academic research, data analytics, legislations, or regulations in fields that will have an impact on malnutrition and child stunting, such as food security, health and others.
For Engage, this group will be doing an inventory of ongoing initiatives directed towards this Campaign, and enable partnerships by linking them so that they can work together to cover more grounds for effective resource utilization, impact and reach.
The move of the private sector to support CAMACS was welcomed by the National Nutrition Council (NNC). Jovita B. Raval, NNC chief of nutrition and information division, was one of the resource speakers, discussing the nutrition situationer in the Philippine context.
Raval said that “The government is now open to participation of the private sector while ensuring that there is no conflict of interest. There are many ways for the private sector to participate and there are now platforms that are available, such as the Pilipinas Kontra Gutom and the Scaling Up Nutrition Movement.”
She also gave examples of activities that the private sector can support to improve nutrition, such as enabling quality work environment for women and children; establishing lactation stations and provision of breastfeeding breaks, complying with EO 51 for manufacturers of breastmilk substitutes, among others.
Diane Chua, managing director of Tribal Worldwide PH, who worked with NNC for its communications program said that edutainment can be an effective tool to engage and interest audience.
She also mentioned that MAP and its members can use their spheres of influence to support NNC from a personal, organizational and societal scale to not just raise awareness for this issue but also to help address the first 1000 days of a child to prevent stunting.
The group will meet again to further concretize the collaboration to jointly help reduce child stunting in the country.