Amway India ups the ante to fight against childhood malnutrition; sets foot in West Bengal with its nutrition program ‘Power of 5’

• Introduces its globally renowned nutrition program in the urban slums of Kolkata
• Aims to benefit over 4000 mothers/caregivers and their children from the underserved communities

As people across the world recognize World Health Day, Amway India, one of the country’s leading entrepreneur-led FMCG direct selling companies, joined hands with ChildFund India to expand its globally acclaimed nutrition program – Power of 5 to Kolkata. With childhood malnutrition in India continuing to be widely prevalent, accounting for around one-third of the world’s undernourished children, the program is developed to help children under the age of six to lead a healthy life with good nutrition for a better tomorrow. In line with this, the company is working to broaden the use of proven nutrition interventions and new solutions to improve child and maternal health.

In Kolkata, the initiative will look at mobilizing communities to encourage participation and empower individuals by raising awareness around nutrition about various programs and entitlements among beneficiaries. As a part of the nutrition program, Nutrilite Little Bits, the innovative micro-nutrient supplement, will be distributed free of cost to malnourished children through ChildFund India as the implementing partner. With this partnership, Amway targets to benefit over 4,000 individuals, including mothers, caregivers, and children from Kasba and Kalikapur, the urban slums of Kolkata.  

The launch event was graced by Mr. Abhishek Tiwary, IAS, Joint Secretary – Health, Govt. of West Bengal, Ms. Upali Roy, Addl. Director, Social Welfare, Mr. Sambaran Banerjee, Former Cricketer, Mr. Chandra Bhushan Chakraborty, Sr. Vice President, East & West Region, Amway India, Mr. Dipak Ghatak, ACP, Kolkata Police and Mr. Chandrashekhar Pandey, Program Director, ChildFund India along with other members from ChildFund India and Amway India.

Commenting on Amway’s extensive efforts, Anshu Budhraja, General Manager, Amway India said, “Over the last few years, India, along with the world, has taken remarkable initiatives prioritizing health and wellness. But the impact still must include every child from every community. In line with our vision of helping people live better, healthier lives, we, at Amway, have been using our expertise in nutrition to improve the health of thousands of children around the world, and to reduce the incidences of malnutrition in children under 5. In India, stepping up our fight against childhood malnutrition with our nutrition program, Power of 5, we also recently launched Nutrilite Little Bits, an innovative micronutrient supplement providing daily essential vitamins and minerals to help manage micronutrient deficiency such as anaemia. Our target is to positively impact as many children as possible, and towards this, we are happy to announce the expansion of our program in the existing and newer locations. As we strengthen efforts to benefit 46,000 children and reach more than 200,000 beneficiaries, we also aim to distribute Nutrilite Little Bits free of cost among 13,000 children under professional supervision.”

Talking about the program, Chandra Bhushan Chakraborty, Sr. Vice President, East & West Region, Amway India, said, “At Amway, we believe nutrition is the key to ensuring that children don’t only lead a healthy life but also thrive as adults. Towards this, we have been closely working with public and private stakeholders to bring about a change in the health status of children under the age of 6 through our nutrition program – Power of 5. West Bengal is a part of the strategic national expansion of the initiative, given the malnutrition scenario in the state. As per the survey by NFHS[1], it is observed that over 72% of children under the age of 5 years in the Kolkata district are anemic. And we are confident that our nutrition program will complement various state-national level interventions, supporting and elevating both maternal and child health in the region.”

Chandrashekhar Pandey, Program Director, ChildFund India, said, “ChildFund India truly values the partnership with Amway for Power of 5 Campaign – address Childhood Malnutrition with the objective to fight Childhood malnutrition by promoting healthy practices and to increase physical and mental development through the daily consumption of Nutrilite Little Bits (NLB) from age 3-6 years for the marginalized community in Kasba Canalside and Kalikapur Urban slum of Kolkata. ChildFund India’s health and nutrition programs align with most of the SGDs, and we believe, strengthening ECD is vital to achieving at least seven of the SDGs, on – poverty, hunger, health (including child mortality), education, gender, water, and sanitation and inequality. On this World Health Day, ChildFund India is committing to ensure health equity in all its operational locations, take strong steps to protect the nation and marginalized community’s health, and prioritize the well-being of societies with universal access to health.”

The Power of 5 is a community-based campaign targeted at mothers and caregivers of children under the age of five years with grassroots nutritional education programmes. Aligned with the Government of India’s National Nutrition Mission, Amway had introduced the initiative in India to raise awareness of childhood malnutrition. Building on the success of the pilot project in Delhi, the company expanded its program to Haryana in 2020 in association with SRF Foundation. And is now strengthening it further by covering more villages in Nuh, Haryana, and diversifying to new geographies with this project in Kolkata.