2015 Asia-Pacific Gold Winner - FrieslandCampina Asia
Company: FrieslandCampina Asia, Singapore
Category: Corporate Social Responsibility Program of the Year
Entry Title: Drink.Move.BeStrong
FrieslandCampina: an active social agent in addressing nutrition security in South-East Asia
The double burden of malnutrition - undernutrition and overnutrition – is a growing problem that poses challenges to the world’s public health system with damaging effects to social, economic development.
Undernutrition contributes to about a third of all child deaths, and about 104 million children worldwide are underweight. Conversely, overweight and obesity kill more people than underweight worldwide. Obesity, one of the leading causes of the growth of noncommunicable diseases, claims an estimated 8.5 million lives annually in the South-East Asia region alone. Physical activity is also found to be the fourth leading cause of deaths globally[1]. Yet, the majority of these deaths are preventable.
In recognition that change must come in the form of action, FrieslandCampina, one of the world’s five largest dairy companies, is tackling the issue of malnutrition by implementing the region’s first integrated activation and advocacy campaign - Drink.Move.BeStrong. The multi-stakeholder, multi-channel campaign encourages children across the region to drink one glass of milk a day and spend an hour a day on outdoor exercise. The growing campaign runs in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines.
Engaging multi-sector stakeholders to effectively address malnutrition in South-East Asia
According to UNICEF, a collaborative, multi-sectoral approach is key to achieve the best outcomes for intervention and prevention programmes[2]. Drink.Move.BeStrong enables FrieslandCampina to actively contribute to society through a number of programs which focus on knowledge exchange, innovation and the recognition of shared values.
Drink.Move.BeStrong was inspired by the findings of FrieslandCampina’s survey– SEANUTS – of 16,744 children under 12 in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam. The findings, published in the British Journal of Nutrition, showed the following trends amongst children in the South-East Asia region:
• An increase in those suffering the double burden of under- and over-nutrition;
• Insufficiencies in vitamin D due to lack to time spent outdoors;
• Low intakes of calcium and other micronutrients.
Milk contains nutrients that are necessary for healthy nutrition and development especially in childhood[3]. To encourage children to “Drink”, FrieslandCampina is implementing a far-reaching milk programme of milk distribution and nutrition education carried out in schools, kindergartens and rural communities.
New for 2014, to inspire children to “Move”, FrieslandCampina partnered with Junior National Basketball Association (NBA) to leverage the popularity of basketball in Asia to encourage activity in children. Each year, school children are invited to join Junior NBA basketball open clinics and basketball camps, progress is rewarded regularly and the top 14 players in each country are given the opportunity to watch a live NBA tournament. Coaches are recruited and trained on basketball coaching and nutrition to equip them to continue the activities beyond the program.
FrieslandCampina engages multiple stakeholders to amplify the potential reach and success of Drink.Move.BeStrong. Government bodies and ministries; research institutes; rural communities and their leaders; children; parents; educators; NGOs; associations and retailers have all publically endorsed Drink.Move.BeStrong.
To date, over one million children across the four countries have been trained in the Junior NBA camps, a further 250,000 children trained through the new coaches and the campaign has reached:
• 6 million people, 515 schools, 779 rural communities in Vietnam;
• 35 million people, 395 schools in Malaysia;
• 8 million people, 500 schools in Indonesia;
• 12 million people, 160 schools in Thailand.
Going beyond 61 million key stakeholders
Whilst the company has already made a significant contribution to improving the well-being of children across the region, FrieslandCampina remains committed to building upon the successes of Drink.Move.BeStrong – the 2015 program has just tipped off and promises to be bigger than ever!
[1] The Lancet, 2012. The pandemic of physical inactivity: global action for public health.
[2] Unicef, 2014. Multi-sectoral approach to nutrition.
[3] FAO, 2013. Milk and dairy products in human nutrition.
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