Food is also about human rights

For Dr. Ellenietta HMV N. Gamolo, food is not just about survival. It is also about justice, dignity, and human rights.

DOH Davao OIC Regional Director and Chairperson of the Regional Nutrition Committee Dr. Ellenietta HMV N. Gamolo (rightmost) with health and nutrition partners during the Nutrition Month launch in People’s Park in Davao City.

Reflecting on the 2025 Nutrition Month’s theme on food and nutrition security, the DOH Davao OIC Regional Director and Chairperson of the Regional Nutrition Committee said that this year’s celebration invites the community to rethink our relationship with food and what it means to have sustenance on our dinner table.

“Food security means every family has access to safe, affordable, and nutritious food. It also ensures that what we eat truly sustains life, supports growth, and protects health,” she said.

This is especially important when discussing children’s health.

Stunting and solutions

Globally, about 149 million children under the age of five are stunted, and 47 million are wasted. In the country, high levels of stunting and wasting among children under five years of age have been observed. Stunting among Filipino children is due to several factors like the mother’s poor health and nutritional condition during pregnancy; and difficulties to comply with standards for minimum acceptable diet, food insecurity, and lack of access to clean drinking water.

“Fortunately, here in the Davao Region, we have a strong reason to be hopeful. According to the latest Operation Timbang report, our stunting rate is at 5.86%. This is considered low based on a World Health Organization standard. Stunting is a key marker of malnutrition; malnutrition in any form remains a silent threat to development,” said Dr. Gamolo.

 “We celebrate this progress but also find the need to continue the good work done by our barangay nutrition scholars, health workers, local government units and partners,” she added.

A good practice that contributed to this better health outcome can be attributed to DOH’s karinderia partnership work with LGUs in the Davao Region. In 2024, children needing nutritional supplementation aged 2-5 years old were primary beneficiaries of a project called Karinderya Para sa Healthy Pilipinas.

Food is not just about survival. It is also about justice, dignity, and human rights. (Photo by Jun Pinzon / Canva)

This project was piloted in Davao del Sur in Barangays Goma and Aplaya in Digos City. It mobilized local karinderya in preparing nutritious food for dietary supplementation beneficiaries, allowing barangay nutrition scholars to focus on nutrition counseling and education, providing beneficiaries with a physically, socially, and culturally close source of dietary supplementation.

Karinderya Para sa Healthy Pilipinas believes that the local karinderya can serve as a champion for nutrition in the community by providing healthy and nutritious food offerings for its customers.

It is also founded in the idea that dietary supplementation can help improve the nutritional status of children under five years old, nutritionally-at-risk pregnant women, and undernourished lactating women especially during the first 1,000 days of life.

“The karinderya provides an opportunity for a more culturally-acceptable and more engaging implementation of nutrition supplementation programs such as this,” said DOH Davao Nutritionist-Dietitian IV Mayflor P. Espiritu.

“Karinderyas can be harnessed as partners in nutrition for and beyond the implementation of supplementation activities due to its physical and social closeness with the community,” she added.

Pinggang Pinoy remains powerful

Nutrition is a lifetime endeavor and it helps keep diseases at bay, especially among adults. According to the World Health Organization, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) account for 68% of all deaths in the Philippines. The probability of dying between the ages of 30 and 70 years from one of the four primary NCDs (heart and lung diseases, cancers and diabetes) is 29% in the Philippines.

The Pinggang Pinoy food model is still a powerful visual tool that helps promote healthy eating habits and balanced meals.

How then can this be addressed? Espiritu points out that nutrition is a key element in the process and Filipinos can always turn to the Pinggang Pinoy model as an easy-to-understand guide that reminds us of what meals should look like each day.

She said that Pinggang Pinoy limits excessive intake of salt, sugar, and unhealthy fats and instead encourages fruits and vegetables. It promotes portion control and variety and supports long-term heart health, weight management, and blood sugar control.

“It is a powerful visual tool that helps promote healthy eating habits and balanced meals; it is one piece of the puzzle in preventing non-communicable diseases,” she said.

The Food and Nutrition Research Institute of the Department of Science and Technology developed Pinggang Pinoy in collaboration with the World Health Organization, Department of Health, and National Nutrition Council.

Community action required

To sustain these efforts in nutrition and in health, Dr. Gamolo pointed out that the community, health leaders and stakeholders across sectors can do these things: First is to strengthen barangay-level nutrition programs by educating families of healthy and budget-friendly meal planning; and mothers of exclusive breastfeeding and complementary feeding.

Supporting local farmers and food producers is also important in this process; they are the makers of the food that we bring to the table and are the primary players in the food value chain.

Workers in health can also pitch in by ensuring that nutrition-sensitive services reach the farthest sitios and puroks. The conversation that we share with each other about food shape our health.

“Together, we can champion nutrition, nourish our people, and empower the nation,” Dr. Gamolo said.