Adequate nutrition during the first six years of life is essential in order to lay the nutritional foundations for our children. At this stage their eating habits are created and they are in full growth and development, however, it does not always happen optimally.
Child malnutrition is one of the main problems we face in the world: in Mexico alone there are 1.5 million children living in this situation; This translates into less active infants, with less energy and learning capacity, which is reflected in their physical growth, development, nutrition and well-being.
Raising awareness about child nutrition is essential for the growth of Mexican girls and boys, as well as for their school performance and social development. An infant with good nutrition interacts better with its environment and lives the necessary experiences for proper cognitive development.
With this in mind, for 10 years we at Quaker® have set ourselves the challenge of investing in the development, research and implementation of a comprehensive and multisectoral program that, in partnership with Un Kilo de Ayuda, aims to help overcome childhood malnutrition Mexican between the ages of two and five.
This intervention model focuses on three pillars of action that are key to counteracting the problem. The first is nutrition and for this we have created a specialized food that is distributed free of charge to boys and girls between the ages of two and five who are malnourished.
For the elaboration of this food, an anthropological study was carried out that allowed us to know perceptions, tastes, strengths, barriers and consumption experience, taking into account the analysis of their diet and the most consumed foods in the region, in order to arrive at a highly accepted format.
The second pillar of the program is teamwork with civil society organizations. With the support of Un Kilo de Ayuda, home visits are carried out in different communities, where we guide and advise girls and boys, as well as their families. Month after month they are given specialized food and, quarterly, their consumption is monitored to give individual follow-up of their progress.
Finally, we believe that, to ensure constant change, the family is essential. This leads us to our third pillar: monthly training focused on health, hygiene, and nutrition for the families of infants who are part of the platform; This pillar has the objective of providing the necessary tools to achieve a comprehensive recovery that is reflected in the quality of life of girls and boys, and their families.
So far, more than 7,800 boys and girls have been benefited in five states: Chiapas, Oaxaca, State of Mexico, Sinaloa and Yucatán, which, in turn, has also translated into positive results for their closest circle, adding more than 30,000 people, and it is estimated that nine out of 10 children will be able to recover after adequate adherence to the program.
We are committed to continue as enablers of solutions to face critical challenges of the less favored sectors, hand in hand with civil society organizations and other actors in Mexico.
Efforts in this area are just beginning. By 2030, as a company, we aim to help 50 million people around the world have access to nutritious food. To achieve this, we rely on a food safety program called Food for Good, which is part of pep+ (PepsiCo Positivo), which seeks a strategic transformation from end to end in our operations, with sustainability as the central axis and putting the planet the people at the center of all our operations.
*The author is president of PepsiCo Alimentos México.