Gabay Nutrisyon: A showcase of healthy partnership between CDO Foodsphere and UNILAB
Guests and organizers of Gabay Nutrisyon Advocacy Campaign recently launched the 22nd leg of the supplemental feeding program in Paso de Bias, Valenzuela City led by (from left) Barangay Chair Fernando Esteban, Valenzuela City Mayor Rex T. Gatchalian, CDO Foodsphere Inc. President Jerome D. Ong, United Laboratories Senior Manager for External Affairs Claire de Leon Papa and CDO Foodsphere Senior Vice President for Business Finance and Services Francisco C. Elicano. Gabay nutrisyon, a branded social development initiative funded by CDOFoodsphere and supported by UNILAB, is implemented by Odyssey Foundation Inc. to arrest malnutrition in the country.
A nine year old partnership makes for an enduring arrangement. There has to be something in common with the parties to continue to work together in anything for that long a period. There has to be something good or worthwhile coming out of it.Not that it should, there simply must.
Gabay Nutrition is an assistance arrangement that Unilab, through then Corporate Affairs Division and currently the External Affairs Group continues to undertake with Odyssey Foundation, the corporate; social responsibility arm of food company CDO Foodsphere. The latter manufactures food products the Bibbo and CDO Hotdog line, Highlands Corned Beef, and San Marino Corned Tuna among others, with an affordability and premium quality platform. They are currently number two in the processed meat industry and number one the industrial meat market, producing meat products for Jollibee, Shakey’s, among others.
Odyssey Foundation sponsors a community based 64 day supplemental feeding program for malnourished children of low income and marginalized settlers initially in Valenzuela City, then later in various parts of Luzon. They provide once a day hot meals prepared by their employees when feasible or the local motherparent or barangay nutrition volunteers in the community, Monday to Friday. A menu is prepared following Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) standards; the children beneficiaries are weighed and measured in height to monitor progress of the feeding. The target is to be able to assist in feeding the children until their ideal weight is achieved. This hopes to promote both the physical and mental well being of the child, contributing to their full and total development.
Supplemental feeding is the’ identified logical corecompetence capability of the CDO Foodsphere in as far as their product portfolio is leveraged. Company founder Corazon D. Ong is also passionate about the business and their CSR initiative as she is a nutritionist and began building the company from a backyard meat processing activity to a multimillion corporation. Thus, their maxim: “We help Nurture life.”
Unilab, for its part, provides . vitamins to supplement the feeding initiative. In 2005, representatives from Odyssey Foundation paid a courtesycall to Unilab to solicit their support for the project Considering the extensive line of children’s vitamins and the reputation for quality medicines, the foundation sought a donation for their program. The support continued as the latter proved both their capability and competence in managing the program and the attaining their targets. One good deed deserves another.
The company also initially conducted pocket medical missions for the malnourished children to assess their condition prior to the implementation of the program. This was done through Unilab Consumer Health. Later in the course of project implementation, the initiative has received both approval and recognition by the local government; the local health department has pitched in to do its share in providing checkups for children.
Over the years, the program entitled Gabay Nutrition was implemented from Valenzuela to various towns in Bulacan and Pampanga, and recently in Malvar Batangas, serving more than 16,000 malnourished or underweight children, ages four to nine. Unilab’s vitamins support has followed them through all their project sites in various parts of Luzon, becoming a reliable partner in providing its support continually and consistently. A spoonful of Unilab vitamin was given to each child following every meal. It’s a spoonful of Tikitiki or Ceelin or Nutrilin, or not to be left out, Enervon Syrup.
Over the years, the partnership arrangement had undertaken other activities as well. Unilab had a few years back referred them to becoming a member of the premiere association of progressive philantrophic corporations the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP), of which the company is a founding member. Recently, the Unilab also introduced its partner in earnest to implementing its feeding initiative with Gawad Kalinga (GK) communities in Bagong Silang, Caloocan City. The latter are incidentally Unilabsupported communities with funding from Unilab Active Health Run proceeds.
Odyssey Foundation is also Unilab’s sponsor in the entry of the Bayanihan sa Kalusugan (BsK) program in Valenzuela City. The BsK is a health development initiative undertaken by Unilab to support barangayhealthcentersin’theurban centers and rural health units in the provinces through the building of capabilities of its personnel, whom in turn are expected to improve both health delivery performance and outcomes. The former provided funds for Unilab to establish capability building initiatives for the Valenzuela City public doctors, nurses, midwives, and barangay health workers of the health centers. Unilab specifically brought in technical resource speakers through Unilab Medical Education Department (UMED) to facilitate the learning sessions at various levels.
Currently, Unilab and Odyssey Foundation and the Valenzuela City Health Department are working to develop and produce a Manual for Barangay Nutrition Workers and Volunteers which hopes to provide a reference material to instilling nutritional education, identifying causes and effects of malnutrition, establishing clinical and domestic monitoring tools that track children’s growth development; and providing community initiatives that promote nutritional wellbeing and food sufficiency. The latter is implemented byExternal Affairs Group in cooperation with Corporate IT (CIT).
Clearly with all that has been said and done, the Unilab and CDO Foodsphere partnership has implemented quite a number of initiatives geared toward improving the lives of their beneficiaries. United in promoting the health and well being primarily of children and lately maturing to supporting the health delivery services in their community, the arrangement has and continues to achieve its objectives, with considerable potential and prospects in the future. It’s a partnership for keeps.
Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer, p. A18, October 22, 2014
Malaya, p. B7, October 22, 2014