12 December 2017 – The fire keeps burning as Roxas, Oriental Mindoro proudly bags the Consistent Regional Outstanding Winner in Nutrition (CROWN) Award during the National Nutrition Awarding Ceremony (NNAC) at the Philippine International Convention Center, Pasay City. The CROWN award is given to a Local Government Unit (LGU) who is continually outstanding for three consecutive years as judged by the Regional Nutrition Evaluation Team (RNET). Honorable Mayor Violeta L. Dimapilis and Municipal Nutrition Action Officer (MNAO) Dr. Leonor N. Daite received the CROWN Trophy and cash prize during the awarding.
Since 1999, Roxas is already an active player in nutrition program implementation in MiMaRoPa. However, due to the different factors affecting the efficiency and effectiveness of nutrition programs, they were not able to achieve the CROWN Award in the previous years. Currently, the nutrition program implementers of Roxas exerted all efforts and exhausted all possible means to uplift the total well-being of the citizens in the municipality. This is further enhanced by the unwavering support and effort given by Roxas’s Local Chief Executive (LCE), Honorable Mayor Violeta L. Dimapilis who not only states her support for the nutrition programs but also actively participates in its implementation in the municipality.
The Municipal Nutrition Committee (MNC) of Roxas promotes inclusive growth, urging the participation not only of the MNC members but also of the other stakeholders and beneficiaries in the process. They are guided by their vision to become the Center of Trade, Commerce and Industry in Southwestern Mindoro: A Promising City through their mission to create a healthy and competitive business climate where agro-industry is prioritized, support infrastructure facilities, and utilities are put in place, public safety is insured, and People’s participation in development is strengthened through functional development councils. With this, Roxas not only successfully achieved their targets through the years but also surpass their goals through innovative program implementation in the municipality.
Roxas successfully reduced the prevalence of malnutrition among preschoolers such as underweight from 4.65% in 2014 to 2.82% in 2016; stunting from 20.16% in 2014 to 10.58% in 2016; wasting from 4.37% in 2014 to 3.46% in 2016; and overweight/obese from 2.16% in 2014 and 1.55% in 2016. These results were achieved through collective efforts of the LGU as well as the utilization of different partners in nutrition such as Non-Government Organizations (NGOs), municipal government agencies, and other private institutions in nutrition program implementation and advocacy campaigns in the municipality.
The CROWN award is just a first step towards attaining the LGUs goals, but the efforts and burning desire of the MNC can go miles in achieving zero malnutrition in Roxas, Oriental Mindoro.//jlbv
