Finalist
Feeding for Life Foundation “Mind the Gap” Campaign
Summary of work
The Feeding for Life Foundation (FfLF) is an education initiative which aims to support healthcare professionals (HCPs) and early-years practitioners (EYPs) to enhance their knowledge and expertise in infant and child nutrition through training, provision of resources, educational grants, and the development and sharing of best practice. With a growing obesity crisis and the resurgence of nutritional diseases, such as rickets, among young children, there is an enormous need and appetite for educational initiatives aimed at improving nutrition practice and expertise, especially as suitable resources are limited. The Foundation, with the agency acting as secretariat, launched with a hard-hitting issue – the failure of vitamin supplementation policy in the UK. The Mind the Gap (MTG) report framed the issue and provided stakeholders with a clear picture of where educational needs exist. It paved the way for the roll-out of a series of long-term educational initiatives from the Foundation (including a magazine, Early-Years Nutrition Course and a best practice grant scheme) aimed at addressing the gaps and embedding nutritional knowledge in early years practice. This initiative is supported by Cow & Gate and reflects and complements its continued commitment to improving early nutrition as a way to influence future health outcomes.
Judges’ comments
This long-term initiative is based on comprehensive data and research. The campaign has encouraging initial results, with a significant rise in online visitors and a notable improvement in awareness of the government’s vitamin supplement advice for parents.
