The Department of Science and Technology – Food and Nutrition Research Institute (DOST-FNRI), the government’s research arm for food and nutrition research as well as science and technology services, will conduct the “Nationwide Nutrition Survey (NNS)” in 2022, using the 20 areas covered in 2019 to provide empirical data on the nutritional and health status of Filipinos during the pandemic and compare it to pre-pandemic data in 2019.

In Region XII, the province of South Cotabato is included in the randomly selected 20 areas in the country. Hence, last April 5, 2022, the DOST-FNRI conducted an online pre-survey coordination meeting via zoom teleconference with the National Nutrition Council Staff, District/ City Nutrition Program Coordinators (D/CNPCs), Municipal Nutrition Action Officers (MNAOs), and local nutrition staff. The overview of the NNS was presented and discussed throughout the meeting as well as the process flow of the data collection in the new normal, schedule of the data collection and survey needs, and coordination of the protocols and/or requirements in the conduct of NNS at the province.

The online pre-survey coordination meeting aims to orient the Regional/ Provincial/ City/ Municipal stakeholders on the plans and preparations and field survey operations of the NNS and to identify areas and types of support and assistance to be extended by the stakeholders during the actual survey.

The National Nutrition Council XII together with the Provincial Government of South Cotabato commits to support the upcoming Nationwide Nutrition Survey in the pursuit of generating timely and reliable nutrition information for effective and efficient policy and program formulation to address malnutrition.(LFU/AMF/RML)