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ROTC
studes to weigh, feed kids in Baguio
Posted: 4:38 AM (Manila Time) | Jan.
28, 2004
By Frank Cimatu
Inquirer News Service
BAGUIO
CITY -- College freshmen and sophomores here who used
to do military formations and push-ups under the Reserved
Officers Training Course (ROTC) will now be weighing
infants and feeding them.
Under
the National Service Training Program, which replaced
the ROTC, college students will become nutrition advocates,
at least in Baguio, said Dr. Michaela Defiesta, regional
head of the National Nutrition Board (NNB).
Defiesta
and her team met with students of Saint Louis University
here on Saturday and discussed with them basic nutrition
and ways to combat malnutrition in the Cordillera
Administrative Region.
"These
nutrition advocates (students) will create a ripple
effect once they go into this innovative community
service," Defiesta said.
Malnutrition
among the Cordillera pre-schoolers went down by about
2 percent but rose by the same percentage among schoolchildren,
she said.
Defiesta
said a survey made by the NNB here showed that the
programs they started five years ago had born fruit.
"But
we seemed to have forgotten the schoolchildren,"
she said. She clarified that malnutrition also means
obese or overweight children, especially among those
living in urban areas.
Other
civic action groups here have already started their
own battle against malnutrition.
The
Baguio Lions Club started the project "Kabanga"
(which means "sharing of pot") where the
club adopts at least two children from each public
school in the city and feeds them with proper food
for at least five months until their conditions improve.
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