Unilever Vietnam Fund helps improve Vietnamese children’s health

This is a programme under cooperation between UVF and Pre-school Department, which has been implemented from 2007 to 2011 in 25 provinces nationwide. Previously, the idea of educating personal hygiene for kindergarten children was also supported by UVF in 2005 and 2006.

The beneficiaries of the programme consist of kindergarten children and people who involve in child care and education including parents, pre-school teachers, staffs, and managers. The programme covers three focal points: (1) training for teachers; (2) enhancing dissemination of personal hygiene and educating children and parents to increase the awareness of better healthcare; (3) providing involved schools with equipments such as soap, towels, detergent, etc, building hand washing gutter, promoting environmental sanitation, and planting green vegetables to better the quality of children’s meals.

After five years of implementation, with sponsoring budget up to VND10 billion ($500,000) from UVF, the programme has been carried out in 175 schools in 25 provinces nationwide with 60,000 children are educated and trained on personal hygiene skills.

Nguyen Vinh Hien, Deputy Minister of Education and Training Ministry said at the conference: “The programme has supported to educate personal hygiene practicing skill for managers, teachers and pre-school children and to improve considerably the child care and hygiene education. Therefore, it has positively contributed to the implementation of the education programme guided by the ministry and the improvement of education quality in disadvantaged kindergartens.”

UVF was founded by a group of companies invested by Unilever Corporation in Vietnam. Founded in September 2004, the fund aims to contribute to the improvement of life quality for Vietnamese people by improving health care and hygiene conditions, reinforcing and strengthening social and community’s activities of the corporation, all labels and staffs working in Unilever in Vietnam.

Since 2006, Unilever Vietnam with different brands have committed to contribute VND70 billion ($3.5 million) per annum through UVF to social and community supporting programmes in a wish to improving lives of millions Vietnamese families, especially those in difficult and remote areas.