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Manila Hotel, Philippines- More than an annual celebration, this year’s national nutri-

tion month launch became an amplified call to muscle high level leadership, and

usher in backings of the global community to solve one of the country’s gargantuan,

historic foe- hunger and undernutrition.

“We start the signifying of the Philippine registration to the SUN (Scaling Up

Nutrition) movement,” announces Maria-Bernardita T. Flores, Assistant Secretary of

Health and Executive Director of the National Nutrition Council (NNC), referring

to the global movement that will strengthen and align various nutrition-focused

efforts in the country. Scaling Up Nutrition is a global movement of governments, civil society, the United

Nations, donors, businesses and researchers partnering in a collective effort to improve nutrition,

particularly for pregnant women and children under two, who are the most vulnerable.

“Forty percent of the Philippine population are children and this is where strategic invest-

ment should be focused on,” says Filomena

Portales, World Vision interim National

Director who was also representing the

coalition of non-government organizations

for nutrition KAIN, or the Koalisyon para

Alagaan at Isalba ang Nutrisyon. Portales

added that, “when we address undernutri-

tion, we address their (children’s) future

productivty.”

The KAIN Coalition is a staunch

partner of the NNC, the highest policymak-

ing and coordinating body on nutrition in

the country, in pushing the Philippine gov-

ernment to commit to the SUN Movement.

PH Gov’t, civil society seek global backings

to fight hunger and undernutrition

ASEC Maria-Bernardita Flores

of the Department of Health

announces government intent

to register with the global SUN

Movement (R photo); the Na-

tional Nutrition Council gov-

erning board representatives

from various sectors (below

photo) pose a unity stance after

the ceremonial commitment

signing and support statements

to collectively work to end

hunger and undernutrition

through the backings of global

support through the SUN.

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“Like the 40 countries that signed up and now benefitting from the gains, the membership

can bring in global partners to support the country and also high level support to the scaling up

nutrition action,” added ASEC Flores on the value that SUN could add to eradicating hunger and

nutrition problems.

“The Philippine commitment to the SUN Movement will indeed unify and therefore make

our resolve stronger so that no children in the Philipines wil ever be undernourished,” said

Catherine Seco of Plan International, stating the KAIN coalition’s support to the government’s membership to the global movement.

The KAIN representative added that despite the government’s efforts to address hunger

and undernutrition, these are complex problems that cannot be solved single-handedly, a point

earlier made by ASEC Flores. Both government and non-goverment representatives also mutually

pointed out that working together is the ideal way to go, and this can be forged further through

the SUN Movement.

“KAIN members can leverage on their programming so they can complement government

in terms of addressing issues on undernutrition,” added World Vision’s Portales, elaborating on the

individual and unified strength of non-government organizations considering their dedicated work

and resources for nutrition, and global support from their networks.

And to ensure action on the commitments made to respond to hunger and undernutrition,

NNC intends to lobby the country’s nutrition agenda during national leaders’ executive committee

meetings so that nutrition will be an integral part of the actions of various sectors. These forms of

support from various sectors are intended to become part of the resolutions as the government

commits to the SUN Movement.

The Philippines is one of the 36 high-burden countries for undernutrition. One in every 5

children below the age of five is underweight and 1 in 3 is chronically undernourished. Under-

nourished children are more likely to die before the age of five, and those who survive are more

likely to suffer from lifelong illnesses, poor school performance, and consequently, lower

productivity in adult life.

(continuation) PH Gov’t, civil society seek global backings

to fight hunger and undernutrition

The Koalisyon para Alagaan at Isalba

ang Nutrisyon or KAIN Coalition (R

photo) which called for a more

unified and stronger nutrition

agenda of the Philippines, one strat-

egy of which is by joining SUN is

composed of 12 non-government

organizations– Action Against Hun-

ger Int’l, Adventist Development and

Relief Agency, Child Fund Int’l,

ERDA Dev’t Foundation, Gems

Heart Outreach Dev’t, Hellen Keller

Int’l, International Institute of Rural

Reconstruction, NORFIL Founda-

tion, Nutrition Foundation of the

Philippines, Plan Int’l, Save the Chil-

dren Int’l, and World Vision Dev’t

Foundation.