Global food and beverage manufacturer Nestle Philippines reported a 15 percent increase in nutrition knowledge among students in 13,000 schools nationwide following the school year 2018-2019 implementation of its Wellness Campus program.
Now in its seventh year, the company’s joint initiative with the Department of Education so far has reached over 200,000 teachers, 7.8 million students, and 4.7 million parents nationwide.
Nestle Wellness Campus is a nutrition education activity in Philippine public schools embedded in DepEd’s Music, Arts, Physical Education and Health curriculum.
Currently widely implemented in the National Capital Region, CALABARZON, Bicol, and Central Visayas regions, the program imparts to grades 1 to 10 public school students and their parents the importance of choosing healthier food and drink options as well as engaging in physical activities and family mealtimes to promote healthy habits among students.
Apart from nutrition education for students, custom dance exercises are injected in the school routine. Expanded nutrition modules are cascaded to parents in the larger school community to ensure that what is being taught to children is also applied at home.
Schools are also encouraged to implement their individual projects through the inter-school, inter-region competition. Some notable examples include providing more nutritious options in their cafeterias, starting up school gardens, and providing clean drinking water for their student population.
Studies on the program showed 100 percent application of the program’s expanded nutrition modules among students and parents, following the 2018-2019 school year implementation.
Students also showed a marked improvement in their nutrition behavior: choosing to eat healthier food and increasing water intake. In addition, parents responded that they began preparing healthier meals for their families at home guided by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute’s Pinggang Pinoy.
“Our dream is to encourage more and more Filipino children and their families to lead happier and healthier lives through proper nutrition. Over the last seven years, we are proud of the inroads that the Nestle Wellness Campus program has achieved in moving the needle in the right direction among students and their parents,” said Nestle’s corporate affairs director Ernie Mascenon.
“We are working with our partners at the Department of Education to expand the program to more areas as we work join forces with other like-minded organizations to help alleviate malnutrition,” added Mascenon.
The Nestle Wellness Campus is a banner program under the larger corporate Nestle for Healthier Kids initiative that aims to help 50 million children across the globe lead healthier lives by 2030.
Photos from Nestle Wellness Campus – CAR / Facebook
