Every year, the nation is celebrating July as Nutrition Month.Nutrition month is the time of the year when the public’s attention on nutrition is being focused. It is mandated under Section 7 of Presidential Decree No. 491 (Nutrition Act of the Philippines, June 25, 1974) which states that “the month of July shall be designated as Nutrition Month for the purpose of creating awareness among the people on the importance of nutrition.
This year’s celebration seeks to encourage every family, particularly the parents, to maintain their children’s normal growth through proper diet and monitor their growth regularly, as a household habit.
Body size and growth rates are sensitive indicators of a child’s nutritional status.A child who does not receive adequate food and at the same time goes through repeated bouts of infection would grow at a slower pace.
The child will be shorter and would weigh less than a child who receives food and who is able to ward off infections during the early years of a child’s life.
Monitoring child growth regularly would tell the mother or child caregiver if the child is growing as expected. If so, the mother is assured that the child is being cared for adequately, and the kind of care being given should be continued.
Otherwise, the mother is given a signal that something is not quite right and something should be done with the kind of care being given to the child, like for instance, improve the quantity or quality of food being given to the child or bring the child to the doctor for a check-up.
