If the youth are the hope of the nation, then Antipolo City can aspire for a healthier, more dynamic future. The city anchors its aspirations on its youth who will be freed from the burden of malnutrition with the launch of the Department of Science and Technology’s PINOY program in one of Antipolo’s barangays.

Officially called the “Package for the Improvement of Nutrition of Young Children”, DOST’s PINOY program was launched May 11 in this city to beef up the nutrition status of children 6-35 months old in Barangay Cupang particularly. The DOST-PINOY implementation in this barangay is made possible through the sponsorship of Alagad, a partylist that focuses on improving the plight of the Filipino urban poor.

DOST’s PINOY is designed to improve the health status of children under three years old and to give opportunity to entrepreneurs who are interested to produce DOST-developed complementary food.

Breaking the malnutrition cycle

“The first two years of life is a very critical period. When kids are malnourished at this stage, the ill effects of malnutrition to their bodies and brains will be irreversible,” said DOST Sec. Mario Montejo. “Malnourished kids are sickly, do not perform well in school, and have unhealthy worldview. When they grow up, they will become unproductive and raise malnourished families. The cycle will just keep repeating itself.”

“It’s time to break this cycle through DOST’s PINOY program,” he added.

The DOST-PINOY program was launched last year in various parts of the country, including Negros Occidental, Iloilo, Antique, and Taguig City, where positive results were found by the PINOY research team from the DOST’s Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI).

The FNRI team rolled out the DOST-PINOY program in Brgy. Cupang by holding first a two-day nutrition education training for Barangay Nutrition Scholars (BNS), barangay health workers (BHWs), and barangay volunteers. The trainees will later train the mothers and caregivers on proper nutrition, breastfeeding, meal planning, proper food handling, and others. They will also handle the 120-day feeding of FNRI-developed complementary food to Brgy. Cupang’s young children aged 6-35 months. The feeding will run from May 21 to  Sept. 17.

Clockwise: Asst. Secretary Robert Dizon feeds one kid with DOST PINOY complementary food named "BigMo." DOST officials turns over PINOY manuals, food samples, and others to Alagad representatives who in turn will hand over the PINOY kit to the local governments of Antipolo City and Brgy. Cupang.(L-R) DOST-IVA OIC, DOST STII Director Raymund Liboro, Asec. Dizon, Paolo Marcoleta and Mrs. Edna Marcoleta. An Antipolo child beneficiary savors the flavor of the DOST PINOY complementary food.

National Scientist and L’Oreal-UNESCO Awardee Dr. Lourdes J. Cruz was recently elected president of the Governing Board of the Department of Science and Technology’s National Research Council of the Philippines. Elected vice president is  Philippine Normal University President Dr. Ester B. Ogena.

Dr. Cruz is known for her scientific contributions to the field of biochemistry, particularly on the isolation and characterization of the venom called conotoxins from marine cone snails. Aside from being recognized as National Scientist in 2008 and L’Oreal-UNESCO First Filipino Woman of Science in 2010, she was also acknowledged as one of the Ten Outstanding Women in the Nation’s Service (TOWNS) for Biochemistry in 1986, DOST NAST Outstanding young scientist in 1981, and DOST NRCP Achievement awardee in 1982.

In 2001, Dr. Cruz established the Rural Livelihood Incubator also known as Rural LINC Program. Asked about this project in her interview with an e-magazine called “Daigdig Pinoy”, she explained,  “I established the Rural LINC Program to mobilize science and technology to alleviate poverty.  This project involves building a fruit processing facility run by women farmers where the indigenous tribes can sell fruits from the orchards and forest trees.”

In the same interview, she said that she is determined to improve the lives of individuals in her community and plans to use the L’Oréal-UNESCO Award money to buy a piece of land to serve as a new base for the Rural LINC program, and a site for the women’s fruit processing facility that will preserve local heritage.   Dr. Cruz currently works at the laboratory of Marine Science Institute, University of the Philippines Diliman. She is also DOST Member-at-Large since March 2011.

On the other hand, the newly elected DOST NRCP Vice-President Dr. Ogena served as director of the DOST Science Education Institute for several years before being elected as the 10th President of the Philippine Normal University in 2010.  While working at the DOST SEI, she held various positions in international funded projects for the development of science and mathematics education in the country.  She served as the program manager of the Science and Mathematics Education Component of the DOST World Bank Engineering and Science Education Project.