I haven’t been watching the news lately. I just find it frustrating seeing political figures firing accusations at each other every single day or foreigners making it big in the news. Sometimes, they take a break from the political circus and share, for example, a detailed account of who were buried in a mass grave. I totally get that they were just trying to reach out to the families of the unidentified victims of Ondoy buried in a grave in Marikina, but I wish they didn’t give such a detailed account. They could have just mentioned it in passing, asked us for prayers, and that’s it. But no. They prefer to go into details…and on a time when most households are having dinner.

To save myself from depression and a ruined appetite, I just now rely on the internet for updates. At least online, I get to read the news on my own time…and at least I get to read a lot of good news too. For instance, there’s this new campaign addressing malnutrition in the Philippines that has been recently launched by by Nestlé, FNRI, ABS-CBN, and Facebook.

United For Healthier Kids, or U4HK in short, seeks to draw together various sectors of society to work with parents in increasing awareness about the prevalence of child malnutrition. They also hope to share what a proper diet for children is–something I think the Filipinos need more “schooling” on.

The spotlight of this advocacy will be on children with ages 4 to 12 years old:

According to the 2013 National Nutrition Survey, about 30% of Filipino children are undernourished and this has not significantly improved in the past 10 years.

Can you believe that?! This is a serious problem because undernourishment has negative results like stunting, which is linked to adult health issues such as high blood pressure, heart disease, and diabetes.

“U4HK delivers upon Nestlé’s roadmap for enhancing the quality of children’s lives through healthier food and beverages, and information and services that will help parents ensure the healthy growth and development of their children,” Nestlé Philippines Chairman and CEO John Miller said. “We stress that no one entity can do this alone. As the saying goes, ‘It takes a village to raise a child.’ We are one with our partners, FNRI, ABS-CBN, and Facebook and we thank them for making this advocacy a reality,” added Nestlé Philippines Director of Communications Sandra Puno.

More than watching the teleserye-like news in the Philippines unfold, I hope we also find the time to know more about and get involved in campaigns like U4HK. This is a wonderful opportunity for us to actually do something for our beloved country, even by just doing something for our family, such as making sure you raise healthy children and sharing that advocacy to other parents.

To know more about U4HK, visit their Facebook page here.