City Mayor John Geesnell “BABA” Yap is shown expressing his commendation for the efforts of Step Up Consulting led by its Senior Researcher Michael Cañares. The impact assessment study which surveyed employees, businesses, tricycle drivers, and market vendors looked into the socio-economic effects which the COVID-19 pandemic caused in Tagbilaran City. Further, the study also outlined the level of economic vulnerability of the above-mentioned groups in withstanding the negative effects of COVID-19. Most importantly, the study elicited policy measures and programs which are needed to protect the most vulnerable sectors with COVID-19 adverse economic impacts. Mayor Yap said the study will play a crucial role in Tagbilaran’s quest to revitalize the local economy and capacitate the displaced workers, “The City Government of Tagbilaran is indeed grateful to the efforts put in by the team led by Sir Michael Canares. Data-driven results will produce informed decision-making, enabling our programs and projects to be truly relevant. Without any cost from the City Government, they made the study out of their concern for the Tagbilaranons. We will be forever grateful”, Yap said.
The surveyed business owners clamored for the City Government to focus in containing the spread of the virus, enhancing the health care system, and providing timely information about COVID-19. Providing financial and economic support to businesses, protecting health workers and frontline personnel, and protecting businesses from closure were also tagged as major concerns. The surveyed employees and on-account workers on one hand stressed protection from job loss, provision of financial and economic support to households, and giving of assistance to the indigents, disabled and children. The detailed results of the impact assessment are published in https://covidimpactresearch.com.
Tagbilaran City celebrates Nutrition Month
Strengthening Tagbilaran City’s stance against the COVID-19 pandemic is one of the main thrusts in the 46th Nutrition Month celebration as the City is intensifying its focus on mothers and children in all the 15 barangays. Some of the activities streamlined during the celebration included the following: the city’s enhancement of the thrust that well-nourished children develop strong immunity; online meal planning consultation among the pregnant and lactating mothers; providing of seedlings to the families with malnourished children by the City Nutrition Committee in partnership with the City Vet and Agriculture Office; providing of ready-to-use-supplementary food to identified malnourished children by the City Health and City Nutrition Officer Rey Delos Santos; drum beating of the theme “Batang Pinoy SANA TALL as it was stunting, SAMA ALL”, This was an information education campaign that was launched in the radio program of the City Government and was flashed in the LED walls all around Tagbilaran. Patients in the City Health Office also got to watch nutrition promotional videos.
The theme aims to promote awareness and mobilize actions to address stunting. It calls for a collective vision of having taller Filipino children by preventing stunting through the participation of government, non-government organizations, civil society, business, academe, communities and families.
Stunting or pagkabansot in Filipino, is the impaired growth and development experienced by children due to poor nutrition, repeated infection and inadequate psycho social stimulation. Stunting can lead to low educational performance, lost productivity, increased risk of developing non-communicable diseases (NCDs), and even death. The economic cost of stunting is high equivalent to 1.5 to 3% of the country’s gross domestic product.
The chosen theme underscores the urgency of addressing stunting considering that the Philippines is one of the 10 countries with the most stunted children in the world. Currently, 1 in 3 or 30% of Filipino children 0-59 months old are stunted with stunting highest among 12-23 months at 36.6% (2018 ENNS, DOST-FNRI). The high prevalence of stunting continues due to the limited scale by which nutrition and related services and programs have been delivered. This is exacerbated by the fact that many Filipinos believe that stunting is hereditary (namamana) and not an illness.
Stunting is irreversible and thus must be prevented with proper nutrition and care in the first 1000 days or the period of conception until the child’s second birthday. Addressing stunting requires all stakeholders to work together to ensure that families have access to nutritious food, have the knowledge and skills to feed their children from locally sourced food, have access to and seek services especially in the first 1000 days as provided in the Kalusugan at Nutrisyon ng Mag-Nanay Act or RA 11148. By raising awareness on stunting, families should be able to understand that stunting is not just a problem of being short but results to poor mental development resulting to poor school performance and low wages as adults.