On December 5, China Children and Teenagers’ Fund (CCTF) and MeadJohnson announced in Beijing that they have jointly launched the “Care from the Beginning”public welfare program of nutrition improvement in the early 1,000 days of life, to explore solutions to maternal and child nutrition problems in poor areas, and to promote the development of maternal and child health in China.

During the three-year implementation period, the program plans to support maternal and child groups and their families, focus on the intervention stage of 1,000 days in the early life, and provide them with mufti-directional and whole-cycle health services through multiple ways.

(From left to right) Mr. Gu Lei, vice president of Greater China of Mead Johnson, Mr. Zhu Xisheng, secretary-general of CCTF, Mr. Rui Enda, president of Greater China of Mead Johnson, and Patty Ohayer, head of global public welfare project of Rector & Whitney, jointly launched the program

The “early life 1,000 days” is indicated the period from pregnancy to 2 years old of child. Good nutrition in this period can guarantee and promote children’s physical and brain development, laying a foundation for lifelong health. Otherwise, it will cause long-term harm to children’s health, which is irreversible and irreparable.

“The prevalence of low body weight and stunting in children in poor rural areas is about 6-8 times higher than that of children in urban areas”, according to “Nutrition and Family Rearing Status of Children Aged 0-6 in Poor Areas of China”, “most stunting occurs in the first 1,000 days of life from pregnancy to birth”.

Early Life 1,000 days nutrition theme salon

“Care from the Beginning”program will support 10,000 pairs of mothers and infants from 25 counties to improve their nutrition and health from 2019 to 2021. The main measures include: providing a free nutrition test for pregnant women during the pregnancy age of three months, in order to understand their precise nutrition needs, and help pregnant women increase their recognition of the nutrition package; On the premise that the pregnant women voluntarily take the nutrition packages and buy it at their own expenses, a certain financial subsidy shall be given to those who use the nutrition package effectively and continuously; providing a free nutrition test for infant three months after birth, timely correct nutritional deficiencies in the growth process, in order to reduce the rate of development delay.

Zhu Xisheng gave a speech

Zhu Xisheng, the secretary general of CCTF said that “Care from the Beginning”program will aim to significantly reduce the development delay rate of infants of intervention group, exploration in solving the problem of malnutrition and stunting in children in poor areas, and promote the government’s policy in maternal and child nutrition security.

Rajesh Kapoor, CEO of Reckitt & Gamble, has high hopes for the program: “Our goal is to significantly reduce the incidence of stunting in local children, which means that children in many poor counties will have the opportunity to realize their potential in life”, he said.

Mead Johnson has been in China for 25 years. “Mead Johnson has transformed itself from a participant and practitioner of public welfare to an advocate. With the help of Reckitt’s platform, Mead Johnson has set its sights on how to maximize social influence and create a sustainable future”, said Gu Lei, vice president of greater China of Mead Johnson.

Early childhood nutrition and health is one of the main focus areas of CCTF since 2011, CCTF has successively organized and implemented large-scale public welfare programs such as “Eliminate Anemia in Infants”, “Happy Family - 1,000 Days of Health for Mothers and Infants”, and made active efforts to improve the health level of infants and children in the program to enhance the awareness of nutrition and health of the needed families.