2016年CRI China Launches Power of 5（在线收听）

The China Children and Teenagers' Fund and the Amway Charity Foundation have recently held an International Child Nutrition and Poverty Alleviation Forum in Beijing. The forum gathered a number of child-development experts. 

Doctor Robert Scherpbier attended the forum on behalf of the UNICEF, among over 200 participants.

"In China in spite of the enormous progress made in the past 15 years, nearly 190 thousand children die before they reach their fifth birthday, every year."

Also, for those who are around 5-years old but in a state of under nutrition, their future is not very hopeful.

Based on a finding of a UNICEF research project, Robert Scherpbier expounds the negative impact from children's malnutrition in China.

"Children who are poorly nourished and nurtured or those who fail in early stimulation are likely to learn less in school and earn less as adults. Around eight percent of those children with development delays or sixty million children live in this country. Up to forty percent of children in China's poorest areas have delays in at least one or more development domains as a UNICEF research finding shows."

Statistics from China's National Health and Family Planning Commission shows 13 percent of the children who died before five years old in 2012 were caused by insufficient food intake. 

In light of this fact, these charity foundations have jointly launched a campaign titled "the Power of 5" to fight childhood malnutrition, with 5 referring to children aged 5 and under.

Paula Peng is Secretary General of the Amway Charity Foundation.

"Duo Yi Dian or 'Nutrilite Little Bits' contains a total of 17 vitamins. This multivitamin supplement would supply a young child's minimum nutrition intake. In poverty-stricken areas in China, children are hindered from an access to a nutritional lunch with fresh ingredients. To date, this is the best solution that suits China's national condition."

In the first year, they plan to introduce Little Bits to more than 15,000 children in 700 schools free of charge.

On the other hand, the Power of 5 Campaign will work with the Chinese Nutrition Society to monitor the children's progress and growth.

Lu Mai (卢迈) is secretary-general of the China Development Research Foundation, an organization which helps the campaign distribute this new food supplement.

"Duo Yi Dian has been launched into general availability in four counties, including Songtao County in Guizhou province. Samples would be collected here in the county to inform us of its impact on children's growth and prevention of anemia. In the latter half of this year, Duo Yi Dian will become widely available to all village kindergartens in China."

In China, children aged 6 months to 2 years old in impoverished areas are benefiting from projects to improve their health, and also the Chinese government implements projects of providing free nutrition supplements for those aged above six, who receive compulsory education in these poor areas.

However, the country fails to address specific goals to boost child development at three to five years old. And the Power of 5 Campaign is expected to fill this blank.

For Studio Plus, I'm Wang Lei.