Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles and National Nutrition Council (NNC) Executive Director Dr. Azucena Dayanghirang jointly conducted the soft launch of the Tutok Kainan program at the NNC headquarters on November 23, 2020, specifically targeting and addressing the food and nutritional needs of pregnant women and young children.
Tutok Kainan will distribute the Enhanced Nutribun, ready-to-eat lipid-based nutritional supplements and hot meals for three months starting this December.
The program’s initial target is 34,000 nutritionally at-risk pregnant women in provinces that have a high rate of child stunting, also in areas affected by recent natural calamities. Malacañang and the NNC expect to immediately expand the program next year to include malnourished children between six to twenty three months of age.
The program’s initial target is 34,000 nutritionally at-risk pregnant women in provinces that have a high rate of child stunting, also in areas affected by recent natural calamities.
Executive Director Dayanghirang explained that their focus would be pregnant women and malnourished children in order to prevent growth stunting in the first two years, or in the period classified as the First 1000 Days of a child’s existence.
“If we don’t address this problem, this can cause permanent and irreversible damage to our youngsters. It affects the body and the mind. This we cannot allow to happen,” Dayanghirang added.
Tutok Kainan was created with the assistance of the Inter-agency Task Force on Zero Hunger chaired by Cab Sec Nograles who also led the ceremonial feeding of a number of pregnant women from the National Capital Region.
The feeding program was in line with the recommendation of the IATF on Emerging Infectious Diseases last October through IATF Resolution No. 76, which addresses the needs of nutritionally-deficient children by giving cash assistance and food packs to minimize the effect of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic to vulnerable sectors.
Nograles noted that the government was actively pursuing initiatives to address hunger and poverty concerns.
“The Task Force Zero Hunger, in cooperation with related agencies, created the National Food Policy that will serve as a catalyst for the enforcement of programs addressing a wide range of needs. We are also enlisting the support of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), the private sector, local government units (LGUs) and State Universities and Colleges through an organized movement against hunger called Pilipinas Kontra Gutom” the Malacañang official said.
Tutok Kainan will be launched in Camarines Sur, Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, Siquijor, Cebu City, Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur, Bukidnon and in Caloocan, Navotas, Parañaque and Pateros in NCR. Also targeted are areas most affected b the recent typhoons Rolly and Ulysses, which include Cagayan, Isabela, Albay, Catanduanes and Rodriguez, Rizal.
“We do all these with the objective of eliminating hunger and malnutrition in the country by year 2030 to fulfil our commitment to the Sustainable Development Goal of Zero Hunger,” Nograles stressed.
The online soft launch was attended by 500 participants from local government program areas, the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement Business Network and the Civil Society Alliance as well as representatives from different government agencies.
Tutok Kainan is one of the platforms of the National Dietary Supplementation Program of the Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition (PPAN) 2017-2022.
Simultaneous with the launch, Nograles requested that LGUs give counterpart contributions in terms of manpower and logistical support to the NNC.
“I’m strongly encouraging all stakeholders to invest in this project as much as they can. The dietary supplementation program will benefit the country and our people. A well-fed and healthy citizenry is a strong foundation to a sustainably developed country.”
Tutok Kainan is one of the platforms of the National Dietary Supplementation Program of the Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition (PPAN) 2017-2022.
Apart from Tutok, the DSWD and DepEd have their own feeding programs for children in day care centers and elementary schools. They closely coordinate with LGUs and NGOs in this respect.
“Let’s all work together to end hunger in this lifetime. No Gutom should be among our battlecries as we weather this pandemic. Ang kaligtasan ng susunod na henerasyon ay kaligtasan ng Pilipinas,” Nograles stressed.