HILONGOS, Leyte – Natural disasters and devastating food insecurity grip communities around the world, threatening lives and livelihoods – and women and children bear the greatest consequences.

Disasters and emergencies including the pandemic brought about by the COVID-19 threatens the health and nutrition of the vulnerable sectors.

The current crises are characterized by limited access to safe food and clean water as well as disruptions to basic health and nutrition services – a lethal cocktail of undernutrition. The Local government units (LGUs) foremost priorities are to prevent death from starvation and disease and to reduce malnutrition.

In a nutrition emergency, every second counts: a timely, coordinated response has the power to safeguard children’s minds, bodies and future.

Above scenario prompted the LGU of Hilongos, Leyte to capacitate the nutrition cluster to a Nutrition in Emergencies Training.

The training ensured the integration of the municipality’s Nutrition in Emergencies (NIE) Plan to their Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction Plan for Health (DRRM-H) and incorporate it to their Nutrition Action Plan and DRRM Plan.

With technical inputs coming from NNC 8 staff, all of these plans will subsequently incorporated in their Comprehensive Development Plan, Local Development Investment Plan and ultimately to their Annual Investment Programs which will ensure funding of nutrition programs, projects and activities including nutrition in emergencies.

Municipal Mayor and chairperson of the Municipal Nutrition Committee and Nutrition cluster challenged the planning core team to synchronize, synergize and integrate the NIEm Plan to other higher plans of the municipality. He vowed however, to support the initiative of formulating the NIEm Plan.

The formulation of the NIEm Plan is but timely as the LGU will update their NAP and their MDRRM plan.

All of these efforts will geared towards safeguarding the health, nutrition and the general welfare of its populace most particularly the vulnerable sectors- women, children, adolescent females and the elderly.#NPC-CPD