Nutrition plays a vital role in building a healthier and more resilient community. The programs of the City Health and Sanitation Department- Nutrition Section are designed to strengthen the delivery of essential health and nutrition services, promote proper dietary practices, and address both undernutrition and overnutrition across all life stages. 

We are committed to: 

• Supporting mothers and children in the first 1,000 days of life. 
• Preventing and reducing malnutrition across life stages.
• Promoting balanced diets and active lifestyles to combat lifestyle-related diseases.
• Ensuring equitable access to nutrition programs and resources for all sectors of society.
• Collaborating with different nutrition stakeholders to effectively address the challenges of malnutrition and diet-related diseases. 

Our programs are anchored in the four pillars of the Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition 2023-2028, which are Healthier Diets, Better Nutrition Practices, Improved Access to Quality Services, and Enabling Environment, and bear the following outcome statements: 

Healthier Diets – Filipinos consume and demand adequate, age-appropriate, nutrient-dense, diverse, affordable, safe, sustainable diets. 

Better Nutrition Practices – Filipinos adopt behavior and practices that contribute to optimal nutrition, health, and well-being. 

Improved Access to Quality Services – Filipinos benefit from well-coordinated, inclusive, and integrated quality nutrition and related services. 

Enabling Environment – Filipinos enjoy their right to adequate food and nutrition due to good governance and enabling policy environments. 

PPAN has categorized interventions into nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive interventions and complemented them with enabling mechanisms. These outcome targets can be attributed to several implemented interventions: 

1. Infant and Young Child Feeding – These programs promote optimal feeding practices for infants and young children to ensure proper growth and development. It focuses on exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months, continued breastfeeding up to two years or beyond, and appropriate complementary feeding from six months of age. The program includes advocacy, capacity-building, and community support to improve nutrition outcomes and reduce child malnutrition.

• Integrated Management of Acute Malnutrition – A comprehensive approach to identify, treat, and prevent acute malnutrition in children and other vulnerable groups. It combines facility-based care for severe cases with community-based programs to detect and treat moderate cases early.

1. National Dietary Supplementation Program – 
2. Mandatory Food Fortification – The legal requirement to add essential nutrients such as iron, folic acid, or iodine to commonly consumed foods like rice, flour, salt, or oil to improve public health at a population level.

• Micronutrient Supplementation- The targeted provision of vitamins and minerals like vitamin A, iron, or iodine, and other essential micronutrients in the form of capsules, tablets, or powders to prevent or treat specific nutrient deficiencies.

1. Nutrition in Emergencies – Strategies and interventions aimed at preventing and treating malnutrition during emergencies and disasters to protect and care for the vulnerable populations. 

• National Nutrition Promotion Program for Behavior Change – A government-led initiative focused on improving public health by encouraging healthy eating habits and nutrition-related behaviors through education, communication campaigns, and community engagement to raise awareness, motivate positive dietary choices, and promote sustainable lifestyle changes across the population.

1. Overweight and Obesity Management and Prevention Program – an initiative aimed at reducing the prevalence of overweight and obesity through promoting healthy lifestyles. It focuses on nutrition education, physical activity promotion, early detection, and management of overweight and obesity to prevent related non-communicable diseases and improve overall health outcomes.

PPAN also has nutrition-sensitive programs, which are interventions from sectors like agriculture, education, social protection, and WASH (water, sanitation, and hygiene) that indirectly support improved nutrition outcomes. These programs address the underlying causes of malnutrition by improving food security, access to health services, income, and living conditions, and are aligned with the Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition’s goal to reduce all forms of malnutrition. 

Email: chsdnutritionsection@gmail.com

FB page: LGU Calapan City Nutrition Section