Category Archives: health events

DOH, DEPED LAUNCH HEALTHY LEARNING INSTITUTIONS TO STRENGTHEN SCHOOL HEALTH PROGRAMS

The Department of Education (DepEd) and the Department of Health (DOH) vowed to strengthen school health and nutrition programs in the basic education sector by launching “Pinalakas na Oplan Kalasuguan sa DepEd, Pinatatag na Health Learning Institution” in Quirino High School in Quezon City.

The ceremony gathered Executive Committee leaders of both DepEd and DOH, local government representatives of the host city, and selected school health and nutrition personnel nationwide to highlight the importance of a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach to strengthen school health programs.

Institutionalized in 2018, Oplan Kalusugan sa DepEd or OK sa
DepEd is the convergence of DepEd’s health and nutrition initiatives for effective and efficient implementation at the school level in partnership with various stakeholders.

“I look forward to receiving the results of your consultative workshop summarizing the issues, concerns, and recommendations from regional school health and nutrition personnel, including the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao,” Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Z. Duterte said.

Early this year, DepEd established a partnership with the DOH, and other national government agencies through Joint Administrative Order (JAO) 2022-0001 or Guidelines on Healthy Settings Framework in Learning Institutions. It is to strengthen school health under the basic education sector as Healthy Learning Institutions (HLI) or Health Iskwela, via the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Department of Education (DepEd), Commission on Higher Education (CHED), Legal Education Board (LEB), Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), and the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).

According to Section 30 of Republic Act 11223 or the Universal Health Care Act, JAO operationalizes the designation of schools as healthy settings based on standards set by the DOH and DepEd.

The DOH manifested its gratitude for the efforts of DepEd in prioritizing students’ health and well-being. The Department also expressed its commitment to support the DepEd in this endeavor.

“Through a whole of government and whole of society approach, the DOH commits to helping DepEd in ensuring students’ health and well-being through improving access to health care, creating and writing healthy school policies; creating conducive physical and social environments; strengthening links with the community on health, and reinforcing health skills and education. We are confident that this innovative strategy of deep cooperation between the sectors of health and education at the national, regional, and local levels will be fruitful in maximizing the positive impact of education on Filipino students,” said DOH OIC-Undersecretary Dr. Beverly Lorraine C. Ho

The Health Iskwela framework is being pilot-tested in 273 last-mile elementary schools in eight provinces and one city. The OK sa DepEd will adopt the program framework.

“The HLI Framework, based on the World Health Organization’s (WHO) six pillars of health-promoting school, serves as an effective guide as to how we can strengthen the implementation of our existing health and nutrition programs under OK sa DepEd,” Undersecretary Revsee Escobedo said.

Press Release

Nationwide Planting of Vegetables in Schools Kicks-Off Nutrition Month Celebration

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July 2 marks the official start of this yearâ€™s Nutrition Month celebration guided by the theme â€œPagkain ng gulay ugaliin, araw-araw itong ihain!â€ The National Nutrition Council of the Department of Health kicks-off the nationwide celebration with the planting of vegetables by school children of the Concepcion Elementary School in Marikina City.

The children will be joined by Health Secretary and NNC Chair Enrique Ona, Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala, Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman and Education Secretary Armin Luistro together with NNC Executive Director and concurrent Assistant Secretary of Health Maria-Bernardita Flores.

Thousands of school children are expected to plant vegetables in public elementary schools. The Department of Education issued a memorandum encouraging all schools to celebrate Nutrition Month with the simultaneous planting of vegetables as part of its share to promote consumption of vegetables among children as part of a healthy diet.

This yearâ€™s Nutrition Month celebration aims to encourage every Filipino to eat more vegetables that is 3 servings or more per day, to add more vitamins and minerals in the diet as well as prevent non-communicable diseases such as various forms of cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes. As vegetables have fewer calories, adding them to the diet can help people to reduce weight or maintain normal body weight. A serving of vegetable is equal to a cup of raw leafy vegetables or Â½ cup of raw or cooked non-leafy vegetables.

The campaign is in response to the finding that the average Filipino eats less and less vegetables per day in the past 30 years. Based on the food consumption surveys of the Food and Nutrition Research Institute, Filipinos eat only about 2 servings of vegetables on average or about 110 grams. The vegetable consumption has been declining since 1978 when Filipinos still ate 145 grams per day. The data is alarming considering that low fruit and vegetable intake is among the top 10 selected risk factors for global mortality based on a World Health Organization Report. The report also showed that 1.7 million deaths are due to low intake of fruits and vegetables.

The Nutrition Month campaign also aims to encourage families, schools and communities to put up vegetable gardens to ensure supply of fresh and nutritious vegetables. The FNRI also reported that only 67.7% of Filipino households have vegetable gardens or fruit trees. Having vegetable gardens can help in reducing malnutrition and hunger especially among poor families.

PRESS RELEASE