Sri Lanka’s First Lady backs Nestlé Healthy Kids Programme

Sri Lanka’s First Lady has endorsed and commended Nestlé Lanka’s Healthy Kids Programme.

Madam Shiranthi Rakapaksa – who is a professional in the field of child psychology and pre-school education, and has established six pre-schools in the southern regions of Sri Lanka – praised the Programme’s support for the development of children in the country.

The Nestlé Lanka Healthy Kids Programme is a modern and easy-to-understand Nutrition Awareness Programme that was launched in September 2010 together with the Ministry of Education and the University of Peradeniya in Sri Lanka.

Alois Hofbauer, Managing Director for Nestlé Lanka, highlighted the importance of the commendation and said: “The First Lady, Madam Shiranthi Rajapaksa, is a role model in driving the education, empowerment and nurturing of children in the country.

“Like her, Nestlé also believes that children are our future. Close to our heart are the many projects catering to children such as our clean drinking water facilities, water education programmes and sanitation facilities in schools across the island. The Healthy Kids “Nutrition Awareness” Programme is yet another testament of our strong commitment towards the nation’s children.”

The first phase of the programme was successfully completed in seven schools, reaching out to over 1,000 children in rural areas.

The second roll out of the programme in 2011 will educate many thousands of school children across the country on nutrition issues, healthy eating and living a healthy lifestyle.

Nestlé Lanka’s programme is part of the Company’s Healthy Kids Global Programme – which was launched in April 2009. Nestlé intends to develop partnerships aimed at implementing Healthy Kids in all countries where it has operations by the end of 2011.

The Programme is part of Nestlé’s Creating Shared Value – which is a fundamental part of Nestlé’s way of doing business. It means that for a company to be successful, it should not only create value for shareholders but also for society at large.

Well-established programmes already include Nestlé Brazil’s ‘Nutrir’, Nestlé Russia’s ‘Good Nutrition’ and Nestlé France’s ‘EPODE’ (Ensemble, Prévenons l’Obésité Des Enfants – Together Let’s Prevent Childhood Obesity).