2. What is the National Nutrition Council?

The NNC is the policy-making and coordinating body on nutrition in the country. It has a Governing Board composed of 10 government organizations (GOs) and 3 representatives from the private sector. Chaired by the Department of Agriculture (DA), the NNC member agencies are the following:

* Department of Budget and Management (DBM)
* Department of Education (DepEd)
* Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG)
* Department of Health (DOH)
* Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE)
* Department of Science and Technology (DOST)
* Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)
* Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)
* National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA)

The President of the Philippines appoints three members from the private sector for a two-year term. For 2002-2004, the private sector members are the ABS-CBN Foundation, Inc., GMA Foundation, Inc. and a retired nutritionist, Ms. Elisa C. Valdecantos.

The NNC Secretariat acts as the implementing arm of the NNC Governing Board. Thus, among others, it coordinates and leads in the celebration of Nutrition Month. This means that the NNC Secretariat links with GOs, local government units (LGUs), non-government organizations (NGOs), the academe, the media, and business corporations to make the celebration more meaningful. While the Secretariat has a limited human resource base of only over 100, the NNC network, composed of interagency nutrition committees chaired by local chief executives, extends down to the barangay level.