Republic of the Philippines
Department of Health
NATIONAL NUTRITION COUNCIL
Advocacy and Consultation Meeting
on the Accelerated Hunger Mitigation Program
2 March 2007
Robbinsdale Hotel, Quezon City
MESSAGE
by
FRANCISCO T. DUQUE III
Secretary of Health and
Chair, NNC Governing Board
GREETINGS (VIPs)
I wish everyone a very good morning. Magandang umaga sa inyong lahat.
I am very happy to be part of today’s advocacy and consultation meeting on the
Accelerated Hunger Mitigation Program (AHMP) of the National Capital Region. Let
me thank the men and women of both the Regional Offices of NNC and the
Department of Health in the National Capital Region for jointly making this affair a
reality. This meeting is a translation of the clear directives of Her Excellency,
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in July 2006 into action that we must finally
crack down on hunger in this country as an effective means to combat poverty and
stimulate lasting progress for our people.
The directive was clear : cut hunger incidence by half in one year particularly
focusing on the poorest provinces and municipalities. And that the Department of
Health, through the National Nutrition Council, shall take the lead in the
implementation and monitoring of all hunger mitigation efforts nationwide. Hence,
today is truly a defining moment for the various stakeholders insofar as mitigating
hunger and promoting good nutrition in all of the 17 cities and municipalities of
Metro Manila.
The good thing about this meeting is the convergence of people who share our
passion in the continuing efforts to purge the problem on hunger and malnutrition
now in our midst. While we have success stories to convince us that this fight can be
won, we are aware that we are still far from reaching our target of attaining an
optimum level of nutrition for our people particularly those in the margins of
poverty. We need to push nutritional health high up in our agenda especially in light
of the alarming data of the SWS 4th quarter survey which revealed that some 3.3
million families nationwide are reportedly going hungry. Although severe hunger
may have declined owing to our targeted hunger-mitigation efforts in the past year,
the overall hunger prevalence is still a record high hence necessitating serious and
collaborative response at all levels.
Specifically, here in NCR the hunger situation has worsened. Hunger incidence is
already 17.7% in the last quarter of 2006, up from 12.8% in the 3rd quarter.
Considering that prolonged hunger leads to malnutrition, this information is a
glaring indication that the country’s nutrition situation may further deteriorate
without a change in mindset NOW from complacency to DEFINITE action.
Meaningful action toward ending hunger begins with employing the right strategies,
right away! And this task is extremely critical to finally uproot malnutrition as a
cause of both untamed child and maternal mortality as wells as family poverty in our
country as we now gear in the direction of development and the attainment of the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. As we are all aware, the MDGs call
for halving the proportion of malnourished (underweight) children under five,
cutting poverty incidence by half and saving our mothers and children from
thousands of preventable deaths. We have a limited timeline and nations will stop to
judge our efforts in less than ten years. And if we are determined to win our targets,
we need to double or even triple our collective efforts by championing good health
and nutrition.
This half-day advocacy and consultation meeting is one concrete step toward this
direction. Indeed, we have assembled a good combination of local food, nutrition
and planning experts from the seventeen (17) cities and municipalities of the NCR, to
launch the Regional Hunger Mitigation Action Plan. I am sure that we will also have
a pleasant and in-depth discussion on how best we can implement the AHMP
specifically the program’s nutrition education and promotional component. I am
confident that this group would be able to achieve the set objectives and
subsequently, set in motion the various action plans to reduce hunger despite the
various financial and political barriers.
I, therefore, earnestly appeal to our local chief executives, LGU functionaries and
various stakeholders to consolidate forces, decide with utmost zeal and to quickly
move as a team! There are many potential areas for cooperation. There are also
important actions we can make today to get the Accelerated Hunger Mitigation
Program off the ground. Note that these steps meaningfully capitalize on the
acronym of our very own program, AHMP.
A-lign existing projects and activities so they can work in synergy with proposed
measures to mitigate hunger in the Region. In effect, the challenge for us is to do
more with less. Let us not allow the perennial problem of budgetary constraints
hinder efforts to fight hunger here at the local level. All we need to do is mobilize the
resources at hand and use them more intelligently to achieve the noble objectives of
the Hunger Mitigation Program. With serious commitment and greater political will
to implement innovative measures against malnutrition, we can maximize all our
efforts and launch bolder, more cost-effective and sustainable nutrition programs for
our people.
H-one our local food, nutrition, health and other development-oriented workers into
well-trained and competent service providers, e.g. effective nutrition educators and
counselors. Honing them is something like a continuing process of mentoring our
mentors, for our frontline workers to become effective catalysts of the program;
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M-aintain the integrity of the hunger mitigation program by keeping in mind a
higher sense of purpose and employing good governance that purposively connects
itself to the vision of a progressive Philippines; and
P-rovide clear directions and inspiration in the implementation of your respective
plans of action to reduce hunger in the Region. I hope that your plans of action
consist of a mix of diversified and comprehensive range of projects and services that
are truly responsive to the hunger needs of Metro Manilans particularly, the urban
poor.
Today, as we launch the Accelerated Hunger Mitigation Program of the National
Capital Region, I am also optimistic that you will all seize this occasion to commit to
doing what I suggested as simple AHMP steps. Doing so can yield high dividends
throughout the NCR. Let us be reminded that the bottom line of all our efforts is our
people’s health and well-being, particularly their basic right to be free from disease,
poverty, hunger and malnutrition. With no less than Her Excellency President Gloria
Macapagal Arroyo as our Champion, I am convinced that in time, the country’s
Accelerated Hunger Mitigation Program will manifest its worth as one of the better
ways, if not the best, to address the hunger situation in the country.
Thank you and may you have an enjoyable and fruitful activity.
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