Haleon and Aide Foundation Launch 'Seedling Care Initiative' to Empower Rural Youth Health

Empower the Health of Rural Adolescents, Together Protecting the "Seedlings" for Thriving Growth

ShanghaiDecember 19, 2022PR Newswire -- Today, Haleon, the world's leading independent consumer health company, officially signed a cooperation agreement with the Amity Foundation to jointly launch the "Seedling Protection Plan," a health promotion project for rural adolescents. The project focuses on the health needs of adolescents in key assisted rural areas, empowering their healthy growth by promoting self-health management among rural youth and improving the accessibility of health resources in rural areas, thereby contributing to China's rural revitalization. The "Seedling Protection Plan" will initiate its first pilot projects in Yuanling County, Hunan Province, and Lüchun County, Yunnan Province in 2023, and is expected to be implemented in multiple key assisted provinces and counties within the next five years. Gu Haiying, General Manager of Haleon for mainland China and Hong Kong, attended the signing ceremony via video, while He Wen, Deputy Secretary-General of the Amity Foundation, and Fu Yue, Head of Corporate Affairs at Haleon China, attended the cooperation ceremony and signed the agreement.

The "Healthy China 2030" Planning Outline points out that the fundamental goal of building a healthy China is to achieve a higher level of overall public health by providing fair, accessible, and systematically continuous health services. Among these, children and adolescents are one of the key populations requiring focused attention. At the same time, the Rural Revitalization Strategy Plan lists the promotion of healthy rural areas as a key focus, with the healthy growth of rural youth being a crucial factor in achieving rural revitalization. For a long time, children in rural areas of China have faced significant health issues such as poor hygiene habits, lack of knowledge about proper nutrition, malnutrition, and weak awareness of oral care due to factors like the absence of proper health guidance from parents and society, as well as a lack of professional and engaging health education content in schools. These issues urgently require attention and solutions from all sectors of society.

To build a more inclusive, accessible, and balanced daily health environment, international research shows that in addition to macro-policy support, empowering individuals and communities for better health has also played a crucial role. This includes providing people with tools and methods for self-health management, promoting health knowledge, implementing community outreach, and other innovative initiatives aimed at eliminating barriers to achieving daily health for specific populations. The "Seedling Guardian Program," jointly launched by Haleon and the Amity Foundation, is targeted at rural areas in China, focusing on youth groups in these regions. It aims to provide them with timely, high-quality, and effective guidance on health concepts and behavioral changes to enhance their self-health management capabilities. The program will address various pain points of rural youth health by offering direct and sustainable health guidance through student health classes, helping parents gain more awareness and information beneficial to children’s health via community health promotion, and strengthening teachers’ capacity to educate about adolescent health through training. This will help establish a "trinity" social environment for healthy adolescent development involving schools, communities, and families, and promote fairer and more accessible health resources in rural areas.

Haleon General Manager for Mainland China and Hong Kong, Gu Haiying, stated: "When the youth are strong, the nation is strong; when the youth thrive, the nation thrives. The healthy growth of teenagers is a shared concern of our entire society. Haleon is an independent consumer health company dedicated to daily health, with the mission of ‘putting people first and enhancing daily health.’ We strive to help more people overcome daily health barriers and promote the accessibility and equity of health services. We are willing to join hands with partners like the Amity Foundation to focus on the health needs of rural youth through sustainable models, thereby creating a better future for everyone based on health."

He Wen, Deputy Secretary-General of the Aide Foundation, stated: "The healthy growth of rural youth is a common foundation for achieving the two major strategies of Healthy China and Rural Revitalization, and its importance goes without saying. We are delighted to see Haleon participate in and support actions promoting the health of rural youth, and we are confident that in the upcoming work, we will collaborate with all parties to contribute to advancing rural health initiatives and improving people's health standards."

At the launch ceremony, as one of the first pilot villages to receive assistance, Lian Jie, Deputy Director of the Education Bureau of Yuanling County, Hunan Province, exchanged views with other guests via video. She expressed heartfelt gratitude to Haleon and the Amity Foundation for their support in promoting the health of rural teenagers and the development of rural communities. She believes that, with the joint efforts of all sectors of society, the "He Miao Guardian Program" will surely take root, grow vigorously, and bear fruit in the countryside.

In July this year, Haleon completed its spin-off from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and officially became an independent company fully dedicated to daily health. Consistently adhering to the corporate mission of "people-centric, enhancing daily health," Haleon has been committed to eliminating social and environmental barriers to daily health, promoting health equity and accessibility, and enabling more people to have the opportunity to improve their daily health. The newly launched "Seedling Protection Program" will be part of Haleon's global commitment to reach 50 million people annually by 2025 with inclusive health initiatives. Moving forward, Haleon hopes to collaborate with more industry partners and social organizations to address the health needs of various specific groups and jointly create a more accessible and inclusive daily health environment.