Kathmandu, June 22:

A new child nutrition product called Champion fortified complementary food has been launched in Nepal.

The product, which is packaged in a colourful tiger-design box, aims at improving the nutritional status and health of children throughout Nepal.

The product is part of the government’s Five Year Plan of Action for the control of anaemia among women and children in Nepal and has been launched through a partnership between Child Health Division, Department of Health Services, the Micronutrient Initiative (MI), the World Food Programme (WFP) and Population Services International (PSI), states a press release.

The product is targeted at infants and young children aged 6-24 months, an age group that is most affected by malnutrition and iron deficiency anaemia (IDA). The need for an affordable alternative to expensive commercial complementary food brands is long overdue as currently over 8-10 Nepali children within the age group of 6 to 12 month suffer from IDA.

Champion aims to address the problem of IDA as the highly nutritious and appetizing ‘lito’ contains iron along with 10 other essential vitamins and minerals, which are essential for childhood development. The newly launched product will soon be widely available for sale in pharmacies, grocery stores and other retails outlets throughout Nepal. It is packaged in 200gm boxes and 20gm one-time use sachets. The product is priced at Rs 25 for the 200gm box. Champion, a wheat and soya-based ‘Lito’, is available in mixed fruit-flavour and fortified with 11 micronutrients.

Champion is marketed by PSI/Nepal and produced by the projects private sector partner, Instant Meal Pvt Ltd, an ISO 9001:2000 and HACCP certified company.