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A Child’s Best Start: Improving Nutrition for Vulnerable Children Worldwide

Posted on Sep. 20th, 2011 at 10:00am

Globally, millions of children live without parental care, with most living in orphanages, group homes and institutions. Through research and discussions with child welfare experts, we have learned that while their caregivers work very hard to provide optimal care to these children, science-based training and resources on nutrition and feeding practices to help identify nutrition deficiencies are often unavailable.

Mead Johnson’s new global signature program, called A Child’s Best Start, is dedicated to improving nutritional care for children without parental care living in vulnerable circumstances around the world.

Together with our partner, The Joint Council on International Children’s Services, this special initiative will support an online library of pediatric research and include programs to help individual organizations that care for vulnerable children. Additionally, it will include a training program that will help caregivers understand the vital role nutrition plays in growth and development, and help those caregivers apply that knowledge. We are also working with The SPOON Foundation, a member of the Joint Council network, to lead the Global Nutrition Working Group of medical experts who will provide guidance to the development of program materials.

The program will launch with the online library in late 2011 and start the training pilot program in China during the first half of 2012.