THE perception is that food production around the world may be more than enough to feed the global population. However, it is believed that as many as 811 million people still go hungry.
According to Action Against Hunger, whose primary goal is to create a better way to deal with hunger, though world hunger may have declined, it is again on the rise where 9.9 percent of people around the world are affected.
The group said that from 2019 to 2020, the number of undernourished people grew by as many as 161 million, a situation attributed through conflict, climate change, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
To prevent hunger, at least in this side of the world, Herbalife Nutrition recently launched its Nutrition for Zero Hunger Star Program in the Philippines. The program’s goal is to educate children about how to build good eating habits and a healthy, active lifestyle.
It is part of the company’s Nutrition for Zero Hunger initiative that aims to help combat global challenges such as hunger, malnutrition and food insecurity. One of its key commitments is nutrition education, and it develops and provides tools to empower people to make healthy choices.
“Many children, especially those from the vulnerable community are either not eating the right food or not enough of it to get the required nutrition for optimum growth and health. Through working with our partner nonprofit organizations such as the Tuloy Foundation and SOS Children’s Villages Philippines, we can help make a difference by providing children in need with nutrition resources and knowledge to empower them to adopt healthy eating habits and daily activity at an early age,” said Senior Director, Sub-Regional General Manager of Herbalife Nutrition Philippines Sridhar told FrontpagePH.com.
More than 140 kids from Tuloy Foundation and SOS Children’s Villages Philippines received the Nutrition for Zero Hunger Star Program booklet. The booklet, Rajagopalan said, will be their guide to building good eating habits and a healthy, active lifestyle. It contains 12 weeks’ worth of daily and weekly activities that encourage the daily intake of fruits and vegetables, individual and group exercises, and drinking enough water every day.
For every task accomplished, they get a stamp each. Once they have completed all the tasks in the booklet, they will get a special reward.
Tuloy Foundation Child Services head Kristine Pilingan said that the booklet guided the kids in determining if the meal served to them is health or not. “They have become more aware of what they should eat to stay healthy and fit.”
She shared that the kids were excited to read about the tasks, and looked forward to the individual and group exercises.
“They would ask for a photo while doing the activity. They did not forget to write in their booklet and would ask the social workers to keep it for them so it would not become dirty or torn,” Pilingan added.
As for Mama Adel, an SOS Mother, “the Star Program also gave us a chance to bond with our youths, and helped us to have unity and bond in every meal.”
Christine, one of the youth participants in SOS Children’s Villages Philippines, also remarked that “the program is wonderful because it didn’t just help me become healthy physically, it also helped me mentally. As a student, I have a lot of classes to take and sometimes I end up procrastinating. This program helped me improve my focus and finish my requirements on time.”
Rajagopalan added that it is important to practice good eating habits and an active lifestyle at an early age. “These are habits that the children would take with them as they grow older. By having a better understanding of nutrition and its importance, they would learn how to make better choices as adults,”