Since August 2020, Choices has engaged a country representative for the Philippines, to reduce non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and the double burden of malnutrition (DBM). Since then, a stakeholder and landscape analysis of the past and present initiatives of the Philippines was drawn. There were also engagements with key stakeholders like the Department of Science and Technology - Food and Nutrition Research Institute (DOST-FNRI), the lead government research institution for nutrition research and policy, the National Nutrition Council (NNC), the coordinating and policy agency for Nutrition, the Department of Health (DOH), Philippine Association for Nutrition, Inc., (PAN) and the Philippine Society of Nutritionists Dietitian (PSND), multi-sectoral organizations of nutrition advocates from government, academia and the private sector, University of the Philippines (Nutrition) (UP), and SUN Business Network (SBN). The objective was to create an appetite for criteria-based nutrition policies.
Following, the on-going nutrition profiling project of DOST-FNRI, there are plans to also form a national scientific committee to implement these country-specific criteria for food-based approaches leading to the development and implementation of a front of pack logo for healthy foods. On-going studies by Choices include a review of policies on positive nutrients in East Asia and review of double duty actions as part of the Philippine Plan of Actions for Nutrition 2017-2022.
For more information on our work in East Asia, head over to our Regional Hub page.