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Directors Bio 3471 2756

AZUCENA MILANA-DAYANGHIRANG, MD, MCH, CESO III
ASSISTANT SECRETARY and EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
NATIONAL NUTRITION COUNCIL

Dr. Azucena M. Dayanghirang is an experienced public health leader. For the past 29 years, she has been a facilitator and a trainer for various health programs particularly on Maternal Child Health and Nutrition. She has served the people of Davao as City Nutrition Action Officer from 1991-1995; Chief of the Technical Services Division and Medical Officer VI of Davao City Health Office from 1996 to 2005; as well as the Provincial Health Officer II and Provincial Nutrition Action Officer of Davao del Sur from 2008 to 2016.

During her stint in the local government, she led the City Nutrition Committee in the planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of health and nutrition programs. She initiated the “Fresh Milk Supplemental Feeding Program,” which led to the reduction of protein-energy malnutrition among 0-6-year-old children. She also successfully lobbied for the regularization of 32 Nutritionist-Dietitians deployed in the 16 Districts of Davao City in 1996.

In 2016, she was elected as the National President of the Nutrition Action Officers' Association of the Philippines (NAOPA), Inc. Shortly after, she was appointed as Deputy Executive Director of the National Nutrition Council (NNC), an attached agency of the Department of Health, Philippines. In August 2019, Dr. Dayanghirang was appointed as the Executive Director of the NNC. Currently, she is designated as the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Philippines Government Focal Point and most recently, appointed as a member of the Executive Committee of the Global Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement representing Asia and Papua New Guinea.

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte signed the appointment of Dr. Dayanghirang to Career Executive Service Officer (CESO) Rank III effective 3 December 2020. Recently, she was upgraded to Executive Director IV with the rank of Assistant Secretary as approved by President Duterte through Executive Secretary Salvador C. Medialdea on 21 July 2021.

Virtual Workshop for the Knowledge and Research for Nutrition Project

Details
Category: Directors Corner

0419 Online Workshop

With the Knowledge and Research for Nutrition project, the European Commission has set up a pool of experts – the Nutrition Research Facility (NRF), which aims to provide improved knowledge and evidence for policy and programme design, management, and monitoring & evaluation to reach better nutrition outcomes. The NRF also provides expert advice to the European Commission and to the European Union (EU) Member States and Partner Countries. On 19-20 April 2022, the NRF held a regional virtual workshop for Asia to identify relevant research questions about nutrition issues in the country.

The SUN Philippines Focal Point – Assistant Secretary and Executive Director Dr. Azucena M. Dayanghirang convened the various key actors involved in the design and implementation of national nutrition policies in the country to discuss the need for research evidence and aid in the formulation and evaluation of programs implemented in relation to nutrition issues, the efficiency of interventions, methods, tools, and indicators, as well as institutional framework and funding.

Asec. Dayanghirang was joined by OIC-NPPD Arlene Reario, Nutrition Officers Marivic Samson, and Jasmine Ducusin.

 

 

Author: OED - Pam Pescador