THE Davao City Health Office (CHO) strengthens nutrition programs by encouraging barangays and households to plant vegetables.
Gizzelle Larra Cruz, the CHO’s Nutritionist Dietician of the Nutrition Division, said planting vegetables, whether in a backyard garden or in containers, will definitely provide food for the family.
“We encourage every barangay, every household to plant vegetables. So that if they don’t have money to buy food, at least they have plants, which are more nutritious,” Cruz said in an interview on the city-owned Davao City Disaster Radio (DCDR).
Cruz said lack of nutrition will affect a child’s growth and development.
“It will be difficult for him when he goes to school because he will have a hard time catching up in his lessons,” she added.
Aside from lack of nutrition, the CHO is also addressing overnutrition problems.
“While our undernourished is decreasing, our over nourished is increasing,” she said.
“So, we have programs where barangays organized games. We also have nutrition counselling so that they will know what to eat, how much of food to eat, and what food to avoid to reduce obesity,” she said.
“Don’t be shy to go to our health centers because we have a lot of programs that can help you, to lessen our lifestyle diseases,” she said.
