According to a report by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI), there are at least seven million malnourished children in the Philippines.
The two main drivers of malnutrition prevalence are: lack of education on proper nutrition, and limited budget to prepare nutritious meals. As a result, lower-income families resort to cheaper food alternatives that are more often than not, high in salt or sugar, unaware of the nutritional deficiencies, namely underweight and stunting, these cause their children.
Through food brand Knorr, Unilever Philippines continues to champion proper nutrition with the Knorr Lutong Nanay Nutrition Program.
Unilever Philippines – Knorr Lutong Nanay Nutrition Program renewed its partnership with The Department of Social Welfare and Development – National Capital Region (DSWD-NCR), through the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), the Department of Science and Technology – Food and Nutrition Research Institute (DOST-FNRI) and Kabisig ng Kalahi last April 03, 2019 at Unilever Philippines Corporate Center, BGC, Taguig.
For three consecutive years, Unilever has been a partner of DSWD in improving the lives of the program members, focusing on nutrition. 4Ps offers a scale for Knorr Lutong Nanay Nutrition Program to reach millions of Filipinos nationwide, to effectively combat and alleviate malnutrition in the country which is prevalent up to this day.
With the help of the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (DOST-FNRI), Knorr developed The Nutri-Budget Journal that contains recipes good for 21 days – to build every mom’s habit or preparing nutritious meals for Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner. With the 4Ps conditional cash grants, each household can afford at least 30Php dish per meal.
In the last 17 years, Knorr has helped 1 Million children get out of malnutrition. This is done in partnership with Kabisig ng Kalahi through a 120-day Feeding program conducted in schools and identified communities in the country.
The initiative simplifies meal planning and preparation through an end to end nutrition education program. It empowers every mother to take charge of her family’s nutrition through home-cooked meals - sustainably giving families access to nutritious meals.
The program was piloted in the 28 barangays of Taguig City, where there are 8,494 active members of Pantawid Pamilya. The Pilot showed positive results and was rolled out to 5 more cities in 2018: Quezon City, City of Malabon, City of Parańaque, City of Valenzuela, City of Marikina Delegation. The program reached out to a total of 150,000 homes.
After reaching more than 200,000 individuals in Taguig, Paranaque, Marikina, Malabon, Valenzuela and Quezon City, Knorr Lutong Nanay Nutri Program will bring the program to more communities across Metro Manila.