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Directors Bio 3471 2756

AZUCENA MILANA-DAYANGHIRANG, MD, MCH, CESO III
ASSISTANT SECRETARY and EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
NATIONAL NUTRITION COUNCIL

Dr. Azucena M. Dayanghirang is an experienced public health leader. For the past 29 years, she has been a facilitator and a trainer for various health programs particularly on Maternal Child Health and Nutrition. She has served the people of Davao as City Nutrition Action Officer from 1991-1995; Chief of the Technical Services Division and Medical Officer VI of Davao City Health Office from 1996 to 2005; as well as the Provincial Health Officer II and Provincial Nutrition Action Officer of Davao del Sur from 2008 to 2016.

During her stint in the local government, she led the City Nutrition Committee in the planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of health and nutrition programs. She initiated the “Fresh Milk Supplemental Feeding Program,” which led to the reduction of protein-energy malnutrition among 0-6-year-old children. She also successfully lobbied for the regularization of 32 Nutritionist-Dietitians deployed in the 16 Districts of Davao City in 1996.

In 2016, she was elected as the National President of the Nutrition Action Officers' Association of the Philippines (NAOPA), Inc. Shortly after, she was appointed as Deputy Executive Director of the National Nutrition Council (NNC), an attached agency of the Department of Health, Philippines. In August 2019, Dr. Dayanghirang was appointed as the Executive Director of the NNC. Currently, she is designated as the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Philippines Government Focal Point and most recently, appointed as a member of the Executive Committee of the Global Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement representing Asia and Papua New Guinea.

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte signed the appointment of Dr. Dayanghirang to Career Executive Service Officer (CESO) Rank III effective 3 December 2020. Recently, she was upgraded to Executive Director IV with the rank of Assistant Secretary as approved by President Duterte through Executive Secretary Salvador C. Medialdea on 21 July 2021.

NNC meets with the Office of the Vice-President

Details
Category: Directors Corner

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28 September 2022

National Nutrition Council, Executive Director and Assistant Secretary Azucena M. Dayanghirang , together with her Deputy Director Rita Papey and the Division Chiefs convened in a meeting with the team from the Office of the Vice- President at the NNC- Office of the Executive Director’s Conference Room.

In attendance to the said meeting from the OVP were Atty. Zuleika Lopez Chief of Staff -OVP, Atty. Lucky Ebrole , Mr. Norman Baloro , Chief for Local Affairs & Special Projects , Liezel Ilagan and Ain Arienza both OVP staff.

As the OVP started the roll-out of its socio-economic services through the Satellite Offices located in Bacolod , Cebu, Dagupan , Davao , Tacloban , Surigao and Zamboanga , it intends to expand further to reach unserved areas through the OVP Kalusugan Food Truck which will serve as mobile kitchen for national programs and disaster response activities .

OVP requested the NNC to a personal meeting to discuss partnerships between OVP and NNC for possible technical support, the latter being the country’s highest policy-making and coordinating body on Nutrition .

OVP Kalusugan Food Truck is an OVP program to be implemented in areas affected by natural calamities and human- induced calamities among others. It seeks to help children suffering from malnutrition , hunger, and poor development . In collaboration with the Department of Education and Department of Health through the National Nutrition Council , the OVP Kalusugan Food Truck aims to maximize its operations through conducting a supplemental feeding which shall be implemented for 120 days in identified schools and barangays in the country  subject to the beneficiaries’ health and nutrition standards.    

NNC thru the leadership of Assistant Secretary Azucena M. Dayanghirang, with full optimism welcomed the said future partnership with OVP in the Kalusugan Food Truck Project . The NNC Executive Director believed that  OVP Kalusugan Food Truck project is an excellent program to address and do something about the incidences of severe malnutrition in the country. She expressed her gratefulness for this collaboration with the Office of the Vice-President .  NNC is more than happy to share their strategies for program and intervention implementation , cycle menu and monitoring tools to reach more communities in addressing the nutritional needs across the country especially in times of emergencies .

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