FrieslandCampina And Jr. NBA Partnership Encourages an Active Lifestyle in More Than 8,000 Children in South-East Asia in First Year

SINGAPORE, March 24, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- FrieslandCampina and Jr. NBA today celebrate the first anniversary of their successful partnership designed to encourage an active lifestyle amongst children in South-East Asia.

The partnership is one of the key elements of FrieslandCampina's Drink.Move.BeStrong campaign - the region's first integrated activation and advocacy campaign - which aims to cultivate an active and healthy lifestyle among children through play, sports and proper nutrition. Drink.Move.BeStrong was borne of specific findings from FrieslandCampina's Southeast Asian Nutrition Survey (SEANUTS), which highlighted a widespread prevalence of malnutrition--particularly insufficiencies in vitamin D, calcium and other micronutrients in the 16,744 surveyed children under the age of 12. Through a simple call to action to children and parents to drink one glass of milk and spend one hour of physical activity outdoors each day, Drink.Move.BeStrong aims to cultivate habits that can help build strong families - an ethos shared by Jr. NBA.

Launched in March 2014 in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, FrieslandCampina's collaboration with Jr. NBA successfully trained more than 8,000 children from 700 local schools and communities on the fundamentals of basketball and the importance of good nutrition in 2014. Boys and girls aged 5 to 14 were trained in sports camps and basketball clinics conducted throughout the year. In the Philippines, the programme was first launched in 2007 and continues to be supported by FrieslandCampina through its Alaska Milk brand.

In October, standout players from the 2014 Jr. NBA programme, the Jr. NBA All-Stars, embarked on an authentic NBA Experience trip to China to attend the NBA Global Games Beijing 2014 presented by ZTE featuring the Brooklyn Nets and the Sacramento Kings. While in Beijing, the Jr. NBA All-Stars from South-East Asia met with NBA Legend Yao Ming, played in exhibition basketball games and visited historical landmarks around the city.  

This year, the programme will reach more boys and girls and instill in them the Jr. NBA core values of sportsmanship, teamwork, a positive attitude, and respect (S.T.A.R.). The programme will remain free across all stages.

To encourage an active lifestyle beyond the open clinics and to broaden the reach of the programme even further, FrieslandCampina and Jr. NBA also train coaches within schools to equip them with the ability to teach basketball skills. In 2014, FrieslandCampina and Jr. NBA trained more than 800 coaches in South-East Asia and aim to increase the number in 2015.

Commenting on the anniversary, Piet Hilarides, Chief Operating Officer, FrieslandCampina Asia, said: "Through our Drink.Move.Be.Strong campaign and Jr. NBA partnership, we have been able to bring the power of nutrition and sports to thousands of children and youths across the region and we are delighted to have launched and be expanding this very successful partnership. This collaboration is an important element of our pioneering Drink.Move.BeStrong campaign which has now reached more than 68 million people through multiple-channels across South-East Asia.

"FrieslandCampina is committed to the growth and development of our future generation, and through our partnership with Jr. NBA we can make a positive impact on the well-being of children in the region by encouraging them to adopt a healthy and active lifestyle." 

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About Royal FrieslandCampina

Every day Royal FrieslandCampina provides millions of consumers all over the world with food that is rich in valuable nutrients. With annual revenue of 11.3 billion euros, FrieslandCampina is one of the world's five largest dairy companies, supplying consumer and professional products, as well as ingredients and half-finished products to manufacturers of infant & toddler nutrition, the food industry and the pharmaceutical sector around the world. FrieslandCampina has offices in 32 countries and over 22,000 employees, and its products are available in more than 100 countries. The Company is fully owned by Zuivelcooperatie FrieslandCampina U.A, with 19,487 member dairy farmers in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium--making it one of the world's largest dairy cooperatives. For more information please visit: www.frieslandcampina.com.

About FrieslandCampina Consumer Products Asia

FrieslandCampina's Consumer Products Asia business group consists of operating companies that are active in the consumer products segment in Asia. FrieslandCampina has acquired excellent positions in many countries with strong brands and a wide range of products.  These activities have a long and rich history. The export of dairy from Western Europe began back in the 1920s. The range of long shelf life products has expanded significantly: from milk powder, condensed milk, infant and children's nutrition to dairy drinks, yoghurts and desserts.  FrieslandCampina has operating companies in mainland China, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong and the Philippines. In Asia we market brands that have acquired strong positions. Dutch Lady is legendary in Malaysia and Vietnam, Foremost is a leading brand in Thailand, Frisian Flag is widely known in Indonesia.

About SEANUTS

Southeast Asia Nutrition Survey (SEANUTS) is an in-depth 12-month study on nutrition in 4 countries -- Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam -- funded by FrieslandCampina to acquire an understanding of the nutritional status and dietary intake of children from 6 months to 12 years of age.

One of the most comprehensive studies of its kind, SEANUTS surveyed 16,744 children under the age of 12 and highlighted the double burden of malnutrition. There is both a rising prevalence of overweight and obesity, as well as persistent of under-nutrition. Together with insufficiencies in vitamin D levels and low intakes of calcium and other micronutrients, these can have long-term consequences for growth and development. The SEANUTS data were published in the British Journal of Nutrition (BJN) in September 2013.

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