Koronadal City—After two years of virtual meetings because of the pandemic, at least 400 barangay nutrition scholars in South Cotabato gathered during the annual BNS Congress and Program Implementation Review held at Susan’s Beach, Maasim, Sarangani Province on October 19-21.
The theme is Unite and Strengthen BNS Projects for Nutrition Development. The provincial congress underscores the importance of BNS in improving the nutritional status of families in the barangays.
Moreover, it aims to continuously update and empower BNSs toward addressing malnutrition and ending hunger. They also learned to understand the indigenous people’s traditional healing and alternative medicine. The conference also served as a venue for camaraderie.
Rudy Jiminea, Provincial Nutrition Action Officer, reported the province’s initial steps to deliver Universal Health Care (UHC).
“With UHC, the health care system gives the community access to preventive, promotive, curative, rehabilitative, and palliative care for medical, dental, mental, and emergency health services,” he said.
BNS, meanwhile, serves as a health education promotions officer in the community delivering nutrition services and other related activities such as community health, backyard food production, environmental sanitation, and culture.
