LAHORE – Nestlé Pakistan commemorated Children’s Day with a contest to encourage healthy eating under itsNestlé for Healthier Kids (N4HK) program at its partner institution The Trust School in Lahore. Similar activities are planned with various partner schools across Pakistan.
The N4HK program, a Nestlé’s Global CSV (Creating Shared Value) initiative, empowers parents, caregivers, and educators to foster healthier eating, drinking and lifestyle habits among school-age children.
The children’s day activity set participants the challenge to prepare healthy lunches to bring to school, which were assessed by culinary experts and nutritionists based on nutritional value, presentation, and taste.
Sharing his views about the activity, Mr. Tahir Yousaf, CEO of The Trust School said, “Through the years of our partnership with Nestlé for Healthier Kids Program, we have achieved significant improvement in the nutritional knowledge and practice of healthy lifestyle among children at our school. Lunch box content is a great activity as children learned about nutrition, food, and health as they worked on preparing their own healthy-packed lunches with the help of their mothers. Well-nourished children are much more equipped to grow and learn, act like productive members of society.”
Talking about the initiative, Waqar Ahmad, Head of Corporate Affairs, Nestlé Pakistan said, “The N4HK initiative is part of our commitment to United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 of Good Health and Well-Being, to ensure that children understand the value of nutrition and physical activity and continue leading healthy lives as they grow older. In Pakistan, the program has reached out to more than 180,000 kids and has trained more than 800 teachers with 10 partners nationwide.”
N4HK is a curriculum-based program that was launched in 2010 keeping in view the issue of malnutrition among children in Pakistan. It comprises of two books (in both English and Urdu) which provide basic knowledge on nutrition and encourage physical activity and intake of a balanced diet. It follows train the trainer model through which the teachers are trained through a panel of health and wellness experts.
The curriculum has been developed through collaboration with Oxford University Press. The content of the program is taught as separate lessons (not core curriculum) but during school hours. In partner schools, every child must spend at least 10 hours on this curriculum over an academic year. The primary beneficiaries are school-age children.
