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Early Nutrition Education Gains Traction in the Palestine, Middle East

Part of Nestlé’s commitment to Promote Healthy Diets and Lifestyles, “Ajyal Salima” has so far reached more than 40,000 children in the region
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Palestine has become the fifth in the region to roll out the “Nestlé Ajyal Salima” nutrition education program, a part of the global Nestlé Healthy Kids Program that is now in 84 countries.

“We signed a three-year memorandum with Nestlé Middle East to implement Nestlé Ajyal Salima in Palestine, as the Program falls in line with our 2015-2019 five-year plan to improve the quality of teaching and learning, as well as students’ nutritional and general health,” said Dr. Mohammad Rimawi, Director General of School Health at the Palestinian Ministry of Education and Higher Education.

The Program’s introduction in Palestine began with “Train the Trainers” workshops, designed and delivered by American University of Beirut experts to equip Field Supervisors from the Ministry’s School Health department to train teachers to run it successfully in 4th, 5th, and 6th grades.

Roll out will initially cover 12 public schools over one academic year in the Northern, Central and Southern West Bank, reaching over 1,500 students.

The move comes as the Program continues its steady expansion in Lebanon where it was first launched in 2010, was adopted by the Ministry of Education in its school health unit curriculum in 2014, and is now in 225 schools nationwide; and Jordan, where it’s being introduced to 30 new schools, for a total of 40 there since it was launched in the country last year in collaboration with the Royal Health Awareness Society. It’s also ongoing in Dubai in collaboration with the Dubai Educational Zone, where it was introduced in 2012, and completed a pilot run in Saudi Arabia in 2014 – so far reaching over 40,000 kids in the Middle East. “Nestlé Ajyal Salima’s launch in Palestine aims to promote healthy eating and physical activity among 9-11 year-old school children there, at an age when they are old enough to grasp its principles and decide to incorporate healthier behaviors into their lives early on,” said Karine Antoniades Turk, Creating Shared Value Manager at Nestlé Middle East. “Nestlé is committed to Promoting Healthy Diets and Lifestyles, and it’s always a great pleasure to see how teachers and students across the region engage with Ajyal Salima and adapt its learnings to fit into their lives.”

The Program is backed by evidence-based results showing enrolled children eat fruits and vegetables twice more frequently and their general nutrition awareness increases significantly following its interventions.*

Developed by AUB and built on a behavioral-based educational methodology, Ajyal Salima is designed to enable teachers to integrate its sessions into different classroom subjects, such as science, math, art, language, and more.

For more information, please contact:

Lynn Al Khatib
Nestlé Middle East
Email: [email protected]

Jean Akouri
Akouri Communications
Tel: +961-(0)3-571579
Email:[email protected]

More on Ajyal Salima

Ajyal Salima encompasses three components that include classroom educational sessions for nine-eleven year-olds consisting of interactive learning and hands-on activities, healthy eating, and physical activity; parental involvement; and interventions at the school canteen level.

The first from the Middle East to join the EPODE International Network, which encompasses programs from around the world working to tackle childhood obesity by promoting partnership among various entities, Ajyal Salima is implemented in collaboration with local governments, including the Lebanese Ministry of Education, the Dubai Educational Zone, Saudi Arabia’s Tatweer Holding Company, and Jordan’s Royal Health Awareness Society.

Nestlé in Palestine

In November 1997, Nestlé became the
first Food and Beverages multinational company to invest in the establishment of full operations in Palestine with the creation of Nestlé Trading P.L.C. with main office in Bethlehem and additional facilities in Nablus.

Nestlé employs a staff of 40 in Palestine and collaborates with two distributors in Gaza to offer a portfolio of products that includes Nestlé Nido, Carnation, Nesquik, Nescafé, Kit Kat, Mackintosh’s Quality Street, Nestlé Fitness, Nestlé Cerelac, and Maggi.

About Nestlé Middle East

Nestlé Middle East’s heritage goes back 80 years to 1934 when the first import operation was set up in Lebanon. Today, Nestlé Middle East owns and operates 18 factories and provides direct employment to more than 11,000 people and indirect employment to several thousand more.

The Nestlé portfolio in the region currently exceeds 60 innovative product brands in a wide range of categories: dairy products and infant nutrition, bottled water, chocolate and confectionery, coffee creamers, breakfast cereals, and culinary products, among others. Nestlé Nido, Nestlé NAN, S-26, Progress, Maggi, Nescafé, Kit Kat, Coffeemate, Nestlé Cerelac, Nestlé Pure Life, Nespresso and Nestlé Fitness are just some of the brands available in the Middle East.

To know more about Nestlé Middle East’s activities, you can visit our social media pages below: 

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/NestleMe
Flikr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/nestlemena 
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/NestleMiddleEast 
Website: www.nestle-me.com
Nestlé in Society report: www.nestle-me.com/en/csv