HEALTHY KIDS' goal is to improve the nutrition, health, and wellness of school age children around the world. We believe that education is the single most powerful tool for ensuring that children understand the value of nutrition and physical activity to their health through the course of their lives. HEALTHY KIDS builds on an existing base of nutrition education and/or physical activity programmes developed in the last 10-15 years in several countries where Nestlé operates. HEALTHY KIDS will be extended to all markets between now and 2011.

HEALTHY KIDS programmes are designed in collaboration with national health authorities, child nutrition experts and/or education authorities. They are based on a sound assessment of Community needs and vary according to each country’s circumstances. In more developed countries, education will focus on balanced eating and preventing childhood obesity while in developing countries, under-nutrition is the priority, although those markets increasingly face the double burden of both obesity and under-nutrition as well.

• Nestlé has sponsored “Together, Let’s Prevent Childhood Obesity” in France since 1992. The EPODE approach involves creating new educational schemes, mobilising local stakeholders and gaining the support of the mayor to empower not only the children but also their families and others local people in a sustainable way. It now extends to 275 cities – 225 in France (EPODE) and 38 in Spain (THAO), five in Greece (PAIDEATROFI) which Nestlé supports as well as 13 in Belgium (VIASANO). Nestlé also supports the European EPODE Network, which is supported by the EU Commission and aims to extend and improve the EPODE programme.
• Nestlé Brazil’s “Nutrir” programme, established in 1999, teaches good nutrition to low-income children through games, puppets and cooking activities. Since 1999, Nestlé Healthy Kids in Brazil/Nutrir have trained 11’000 educators and reached 1.2 million children in 4000 schools and social organisations. Nutrirhas since been successfully adapted by Nestlé in Mexico, Ecuador, Venezuela and Colombia.
• Nestlé Russia’s “Good Nutrition” educational programme helps children and teenagers to adopt correct nutrition habits as part of a healthy lifestyle. The programme has reached over 300’000 pre-school and school children every year, and over 2.5 million children in total, since it began in 1999. 
• New pilot programs are starting already in 2010 in many countries such as Argentina, China, Taiwan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Pakistan, Philippines, India, Mauritius, Germany, Malta, and The Netherlands.