Republic of the Philippines
Department of Agriculture
NATIONAL NUTRITION COUNCIL



NNC GOVERNING BOARD
Resolution No. 5, Series 2002

WHEREAS, growth monitoring is a strategy in promoting child health, human development and quality life through sequential measurement and assessment of physical growth and development of individuals and groups in a community or population;

WHEREAS, reference growth standards are values for weight or height at different ages used as reference point for the assessment of the nutritional status of individuals and groups in a community or population;

WHEREAS, the Philippine Reference Standards (PRS) developed in 1985 by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute of the Department of Science and Technology in collaboration with the Philippine Pediatrics Society (PPS) is currently used to compare the nutritional status of Filipino children in different localities of the country;

WHEREAS, the United States National Center for Health Statistics (US-NCHS)./World Health Organization (WHO) growth reference standards is currently used as the International Reference Standards (IRS) for the assessment of the nutritional status of children in different countries because it allows for inter-country comparison;

WHEREAS, IRS reflects the maximum growth potential of children and that competitive potentials of a child are not limited within the boundaries of his country but extends globally, thus, IRS challenges the Filipino children to compete globally rather than nationally;

WHEREAS, a roundtable discussion (RTD) on growth standards was convened on 14 October 1999 to evaluate the considerations and implications of the use of either the PRS or IRS for the assessment of the nutritional status of Filipino children, results of which were deliberated upon by the NNC Technical Committee;

WHEREAS, on 24 April 2000, then Secretary of Health Alberto G. Romualdez, Jr. recommended to then Secretary of Agriculture and NNC Chairman Edgardo J. Angara the adoption of the use of IRS based on the above considerations;

WHEREAS, the NNC Technical Committee created a Technical Working Group chaired by FNRI-DOST to put in place the adaption of the IRS for use in assessing the nutritional status of Filipino children;

WHEREAS, the FNRI-DOST was commissioned to develop the growth charts and tables with the handbook for Philippine use and the conduct of the training of core trainers;

NOW, THEREFORE, for and in consideration of the above premises, we, the members of the NNC Governing Board to hereby concur the adoption in the Philippines of the use of IRS in the assessment of nutritional status of Filipino children;

Be it RESOLVED FURTHER that the following activities be implemented to support the adoption of IRS:

a) Integration of IRS concepts, tools and guidelines in all teaching materials and training courses of the NNC Secretariat, DepEd and DOH;

b) Conduct of orientation/training on the use of IRS for field users; and,

c) Official launching of the adoption of IRS for the assessment of the nutritional status of Filipino children in July 2002 during the nationwide celebration of Nutrition Month.

 

Approved on this day of 13th day of March 2002

.

(Original Signed) 
LEONARDO Q. MONTEMAYOR
Secretary of Agriculture and
Chairman, NNC Governing Board


Attested:


(Original Signed) 
ELSA M BAYANI, CESO III
Executive Director and
Council Secretary

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