Leading Margarine
Spread, Blue Band, from the stable of Unilever Nigeria’s food brands, in a bid
to encourage proper growth among children through optimal nutrition has announced the start of the Blue
Band National Growth Challenge in Nigeria.
The objective
is to draw attention again to school age nutrition and emphasize the role of
adequate nutrition for growth amongst school children. The idea is
to create some consciousness around growth and promote comprehensive nutrition
education among the school children.
The Growth Challenge,
done in partnership with the Children of Africa organization and in
collaboration with the State Primary Education Boards, Ministries of Health and
the Nutrition Society of Nigeria will be carried out across 400 primary schools
in Lagos and Enugu states.
Key activities taking
place in schools will include nutrition education programmes, an
art competition on growth, taking anthropometric or height measurements and
assessing cumulative growth in children across 400 schools over the period of
the campaign.
The campaign will also educate parents especially
mothers, custodians and caregivers, and scholars on the significance of
providing the right nutrition – healthy, varied and adequate diet – for
their wards in order that they grow optimally and, demonstrate that when fed
the right nutrition, children grow adequately.
Speaking at a press briefing attended by members of the Nutrition
Society of Nigeria, the State Universal Basic Education
Board, amongst others, David Okeme, the Marketing Director, Unilever Nigeria,
said that Unilever is proud to be driving the Growth Challenge because “initiatives
like this provide an opportunity for us to teach the children who are leaders
of tomorrow the right nutrition habits that will help them develop mentally and
physically.
Unilever has established a goal of improving the health and well-being of one billion people globally and this initiative can contribute to this goal
which aligns with our vision of creating a better future everyday. We believe
that every child deserves the nutrition he or she needs to develop to their
full potentials.
Explaining the rationale behind the campaign, Vivian Ihaza, Tea and Spreads Category Manager, Unilever Nigeria, said “Experts agree that for children, Blue
Band margarine contributes to their growth as it contains essential fats and
vitamins.
The right amount of nutrients in Blue Band such as the Vitamins A, D,
E, the B vitamins, niacin, and folic acid in soft fat medium contributes to
meeting children’s daily nutrient needs. This is why it has remained consumers’
most popular choice over the years as a tasty addition to main meals as well as
with snacks to enliven children’s lunch boxes.
She further added that adults
are not left out as it is used also as a nutritional and tasty ingredient for
eating, cooking and baking. Ihaza stated that the Growth Challenge will be an
exciting platform for parents and children to learn about proper nutrition and
its implication to their overall health.
Victor Ajieroh, the Unilever Nutrition
and Health Manager for West Africa noted that while the brand carries
out a lot of intervention to the nutrition of children under five, paying
attention to school age children is also important, in the context of nutrition
through the lifecycle, and neglecting their nutritional needs can compromise
their growth and development.
He reiterated that the Blue Band sponsored
National Growth Challenge will promote the right knowledge and behaviors for
adequate nutrition and growth among school children.
The Blue Band National
Growth Challenge which is the first of its kind in Nigeria has being carried
out in other African countries such as Ghana and Kenya, and will be overseen by
nutritional experts in Nigeria. The campaign would reach about 100,000 children,
creating nutrition awareness for growth and development.
Source: Maryann Balogun www.quadrantcompany.com
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