Improving child health and school attendance in Bangladesh
A new school milk programme, which involves three Tetra Pak customers, has been established to provide milk to 60,000 Bangladeshi school children.
Childhood malnutrition and lack of formal milk collection
According to figures from UNICEF, millions of children, adolescents and mothers in Bangladesh suffer from malnutrition.1 At the same time, milk consumption per capita in Bangladesh ranks among the lowest in the world with milk availability of 175 ml compared to the recommended minimum daily intake per capita of 250 ml.2
Low milk availability is mainly due to inadequate collection, processing and packaging in the domestic milk industry. Only nine per cent of milk in Bangladesh reaches industrial processors where it can be processed and packaged into safe dairy products.3
A partnership for better nutrition and school attendance
n 2023, a new school milk programme was launched in Bangladesh to promote child health while improving school attendance and local dairy development. The programme involves Bangladesh’s Ministry of Primary and Mass Education, three dairy processors that are Tetra Pak customers – Pran Dairy, Brac Dairy and Akij Dairy – and a dairy organisation. The goal is to supply 60,000 primary school-age children at 300 schools with safe and nutritious milk.
The programme will boost future milk consumption and help improve the country’s daily per capita milk intake. Serving school milk that is processed and packaged using Tetra Pak’s aseptic technology will help to ensure food safety and quality, while providing children with much-needed nutrition. Aseptic technology enables UHT milk to be safely delivered to schools without the use of preservatives or refrigeration, including schools located in the remotest regions of Bangladesh.
Tetra Pak will continue to provide its customers and partners with training and technical assistance. Such support will help promote efficiency, effectiveness and food safety. It will also help reduce logistical costs while preventing food loss and waste during transportation and storage.
“Serving school milk that is processed and packaged using Tetra Pak’s aseptic technology will help to ensure food safety and quality, while providing children with much-needed nutrition.”
1 UNICEF – https://www.unicef.org/bangladesh/en/nutrition
2 DLS: Department of Livestock Services, Bangladesh.
3 Ibid.