Nestlé Invests KSh10 million for its Primary School Nutrition Programme

Nestlé Kenya will spend about Sh10 million in implementing the Primary School Nutrition Programme for selected schools in 2017 to help the country address nutrition issues among school going children, aged 6 to 12 years.

“The programme is aligned to the Kenya school curriculum and is a supplement to lessons taught in Social Science classes. We have already trained over 1300 teachers in Nairobi, Kiambu, Embu, Kirinyaga and Kakamega Counties, who in turn train their colleagues and help reach the pupils in the selected schools,” said Mr. James Ojiambo, Regulatory Affairs and Corporate Communications and Public Affairs Manager at Nestlé Kenya.

The money will go into training teachers and providing essential education materials, including interactive posters and teaching manuals, helping teachers involve the children in interactive lessons about healthy eating, physical exercise, hygiene and sanitation.

He was speaking after they launched the programme for Primary Schools in Nyeri County during a training session that brought together over 180 teachers drawn from 62 primary schools in Nyeri.  
“Malnutrition, in every form, presents significant threats to human health. Today, the world faces a double burden of malnutrition that includes both undernutrition and overweight, especially in developing countries. To tackle the issue of malnutrition, Nestlé developed the Healthy Kids Programme as part of our nutrition commitments to promote the well-being of the children by helping them understand and be able to identify group of foods including proteins, carbohydrates, vegetables and fruits from their locality and also encourage them to be physically active. We want to support children and their families to live healthier lives,” said Ojiambo.

The Nestlé Healthy Kids Programme forms an integral part of the company’s nutrition commitment to help children develop positive habits that will last a lifetime. Implemented in partnership with Ministries of Education, Health, relevant NGOs and bodies globally, the programme raises awareness about the importance of eating balanced meals, regular physical activity and good hygiene practices and has steadily progressed in the Equatorial Africa Region reaching over 760,000 children.

In Kenya, the programme has reached over 420,000 children. The launch in Nyeri is part of a scale-up plan to extend the programme to more counties this year to reach an additional 52,000 beneficiaries from 150 schools.

The programme is based on research conducted on nutrition and physical activity among children at the lower primary school level. The survey found out that an early inclusion of healthy nutrition teaching programmes into the primary school curriculum through levels of formal and informal education can improve knowledge and bring behavioural changes associated with eating habits.

Nestlé launched the Healthy Kids Programme globally in 2009 with the aim of raising awareness of the importance of good nutrition and an active lifestyle among school-age children.  The programme aims to reach over 50 million children to assist them lead healthier lives by 2030 globally.