President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Wednesday, March 29, led the launch of the Philippine Multi-sectoral Nutrition Project (PMNP) with the theme “Better Bodies and Minds”. But what is the PMNP project really? Is it a project worth spending or putting a budget on? The obvious answer is definitely a big YES!

The Philippine Multi-sectoral Nutrition Project (PMNP) is a joint project aimed to combat issues of malnutrition prevailing n the country, affecting millions of Filipinos, especially the young children.

The project lead by the Department of Health (DOH), United Nations, UNICEF, and funded by the World Bank along with multiple local sectors like Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), the Department of Agriculture (DA), the National Nutrition Council (NNC), the Department of Science and Technology Food and Nutrition Research Institute DOST-FNRI), and the Local Government Units nationwide.

The project aims to increase the utilization of package of nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive interventions and improve key health behaviours known to reduce stunting and malnutrition in the targeted regions.

The PMNP will cover over 275 municipalities nationwide, and will be benefited by many within the 12 regions, and 26 provinces.

 Over 5936 barangays in the country will receive the full range of nutrition services while 40 municipalities from the 4 provinces in BARRM will also be receiving technical assistance to support the region’s healthcare development and nutrition programs.

As one of the world’s fastest growing economies since 2010, that was momentarily stunted by the COVID-19 pandemic,  the Philippines relies on human capital for its long term economic growth.

However, the effects of stunting and malnutrition to children affected their performances in the academic field amongst others, and can be detrimental to the Philippines’ overall economy.

The PMNP will be financing various activities and investments which is based on the three respective components: Strength Delivery of Nutrition and Primary Health Services – such as medical equipment, hiring of nutrition action officers, etc. Strengthening health and nutrition service system such as formulation of action plans, technical assistance, mobilization of community support, employing PBG, and technical assistance to BARMM.

Another part is the Community Based Nutrition Service Delivery and Multi-Sectoral Nutrition Convergence which will generally target community-based and household focused interventions. Mainly focusing more on specialized and specific parts of the community like families and home environments. And finally, Institutional Strengthening, Monitoring and Evaluation, and Communications which will support capacity strengthening of LGUs, finance technical, fiduciary, and environmental and social specialists. This part monitors data and evaluates the implementation capacity of specific agencies, as well as financing the monitoring capabilities and project evaluation.

PMNP is a huge project of the government to stop and prevent malnutrition and stunting problems in our country.

According to the Environmental and Social Management Framework by the Department of Social Welfare and Development and Department of Health in 2022, about 30% of the country’s children under 5 years are stunted, 19% are underweight, and 6% are wasted.

Health issues can be harmful for the children’s overall development especially in their studies, for adults, asidefrom health issues, it may have long term effects that may lead to lower productivity.

Health is an essential part of living. Everyday food consumption reflects on our health. Mental stability is also part of our health. Thus, the PMNP is a big leap for our country to combat a long term and prevalent health issue.

There is a cliche that says, “ a healthy citizenry translates to a strong country” and with the PMNP,  we can be 100 percent sure that every peso spent for its implementation will result in having a healthy, bright and productive Filipinos thriving in a vibrant and progressive nation. (pia-ncr)