Nestle Nigeria plc, with assistance from the Federal Government has launch its “Nestle for Healthier kids” in Nigeria, a global initiative the food and beverage company unveiled on May 15, 2018 to fight acute malnutrition in children.

The programme was unveiled in Abuja to commemorate the International Day of Families, which includes further development of healthier products and advice for families on nutrition and exercise and aims at helping 50 million children worldwide to lead healthier lives by 2030.

The scheme is getting support from the Federal Ministry of Education and the Federal Ministry of Health and will be rolled out to schools in Ogun State, and some schools in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). The programme will cover 17,000 children and 50 teachers in its pilot stage.

Speaking at the launch of the initiative, Dr. Chris Isokpumwu, Head of Nutrition, Federal Ministry of Health, who represented the Minister of Health, Prof Isaac Folorunso Adewole, commended Nestle Nigeria for the initiative to promote good nutrition among children including their parents.

He however, urged the beverage firm to scale up the programme as there were 32 million school children in Nigeria today.

In his opening remarks earlier, Managing Director, Nestle Nigeria Plc, Mr Mauricio Alarcon, who was represented by the company’s Corporate Communication and Public Affairs Manager, Victoria Uwadoka, said that “We went into partnership with other stakeholders to do this job because we cannot do it all by ourselves. This is just one of the different projects we have in the area of supporting children and for the private health care givers.”

The event in Abuja was attended by children from participating schools in the FCT, high level representatives from the ministries of health and education, the Nutrition Society of Nigeria, Universal Basic Education Board from both the FCT and Ogun State.