SPI hosted recently a one-day nutrition education seminar attended by some 70 mothers from different barangays in Villanueva. The event was spearheaded by the Municipal Health Office (MHO) as part of the month-long commemoration of July as Nutrition Month.

Villanueva Nutrition Officer Genevieve Banuag-Tasi underscored the crucial role of mothers in providing key nutrients during the first 1000 days of a child’s life. Failure to do so can result in irreparable developmental shortfalls such as a lifelong deficit in brain function, or even death.

Citing data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), deaths caused by malnutrition in the country reportedly increased by almost 40 percent in the January to October 2021 period, the highest on record. Data showed that 4,844 Filipinos died of malnutrition from January to October last year compared to 3,514 in the same period in 2020, or a growth of 37.85 percent in 2021.

 While the rate of malnutrition in Villanueva remarkably improved from 7% to 3% of the population, the situation requires a collective and continuing intervention by community stakeholders to eliminate cases of child malnutrition, child wasting, and child stunting.