MAHAPLAG, Leyte -- In culmination of a 4-day “Local Nutrition Planning Workshop” conducted here, the local government unit (LGU) of Mahaplag has entered a memorandum of agreement (MOA) of partnership with the National Nutrition Council (NNC) for the implementation of First 1000 Days (F1K) Program in this municipality.
Mahaplag Mayor Daisy Abuyabor Lleve and NNC-8 Regional Nutrition Program Coordinator Dr. Catalino P. Dotollo Jr. made the partnership between the LGU and NNC in a ceremonial signing of the MOA on October 13, this year.

This fortified partnership is aimed to ensure the holistic development of the children through the coordinated execution of the F1K Program in the locality. The alliance would include planning, implementing, monitoring and evaluation, provision of resources, and honing the nutrition action plan to address the nutrition situation in the locality--in the context of the holistic development of the children.
Mahaplag, a 4th class municipality, is one of the three towns and one city all in the 5th district, province of Leyte under the Accelerated Sustainable Anti-Poverty Program (ASAPP) of the National Government. ASAPP is being piloted in 10 provinces nationwide with record highest incidence of poverty.
Health and nutrition is among the components of ASAPP, wherein Department of Health (DOH) is the lead agency on health, and on nutrition the NNC--which for the ASAPP areas is implementing the Early Childhood Care and Development Intervention Package (ECCD-IP) for the First 1000 Days (F1K).
The F1K Program involves the delivery of key health, nutrition, social service, early education, and related services in the continuum of care from pregnancy to the first two years of life, which is now referred to as “First 1000 Days”, the window of opportunity to give a child the Right Start of Life Forever! (JCG)