Official Launch of Nippon Paint’s Child Wellness Programme

Assalamualaikum dan Salam Sejahtera

Official Launch of Nippon Paint’s Child Wellness Programme| Malaysia’s No. 1 coating solutions provider, Nippon Paint Malaysia Group (“Nippon Paint”) officially launched its Child Wellness Programme, an educational campaign aimed to empower today’s discerning parents and key decision makers towards creating uplifting environments for children, through various awareness and educational initiatives related to children’s health and wellness.

Nippon Paint’s Child Wellness Programme

The Child Wellness Programme sees partnerships with national associations such as the Malaysian Paediatric Association (MPA), the Malaysian Society of Allergy and Immunology (MSAI), Persatuan Pengasuh Berdaftar Malaysia (PPBM) as well as Persatuan Tadika Malaysia (PTM), working alongside medical practitioners and child care providers as key influencers to provide simple steps and expert advises for today’s discerning parents. The Child Wellness Programme stems from Nippon Paint’s introduction of Malaysia’s first Child Wellness Range, a series of functional coatings that focuses on enabling clean air, safe touch and creativity in 3 key growth milestones respectively – infants, toddlers and children. Its paint solutions are water-based, lead and mercury free with low Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) as well as Total Volatile Organic Compound (TVOC) emissions, which is safe for the environment as well as indoor spaces.

The Child Wellness Range leverages on the Active Carbon Technology which is designed to absorb harmful formaldehyde from the air, converting them into water vapour for cleaner air. Its range of solutions also contains the Silver Ion Technology that are able to mitigate the growth of viruses and bacteria from spreading through walls, effective against Influenza A (H1N1) and Coxsackievirus A16, which causes Hand Foot and Mouth Disease as well as other types of bacteria such as E. Coli, MRSA, and Staphylococcus Aureus. The range also includes Anti-Stain Technology, allowing parents the ease of mind for their children to express creativity because stains can be easily cleaned.

Speaking at the launch of the Child Wellness Programme, Gladys Goh, Group General Manager of Nippon Paint Malaysia Group said,

“Innovation has always been in Nippon Paint’s DNA. In fact, we continuously listen to our consumers’ changing needs and realised that there is an untapped opportunity within the paint industry. That motivated us to develop a child-friendly range of coatings that allows us to create a safer, healthier indoor environment for young children. And while doing so, we are also rolling out the Child Wellness Programme in collaboration with various national associations to undertake awareness and education programmes to reach out to parents, child care centres and kindergarten owners and operators and the community in terms of provision of expert advice and information for them to make informed decisions regarding their children’s health and wellness.”

The launch event was graced by Prof Datuk Dr Mohd Sham Kasim, Past President of Malaysian Paediatric Association (MPA) and Former Secretary General of Asia Pacific Paediatric Association (APPA); Dr Amir Hamzah Dato’ Abd Latiff, President of Malaysian Society of Allergy & Immunology (MSAI); Ms Norsheila Abdullah, President of Persatuan Pengasuh Berdaftar Malaysia (PPBM) and Ms Eveleen Ling, President of Persatuan Tadika Malaysia (PTM).

Speaking at a panel discussion session after the official launch, Dr Amir Hamzah explained,

“With easy access to information via the internet, many parents today are equipped with their own ‘digital doctor’, by surfing on various websites to check on their children’s symptoms and treatment options. However, this may result in misdiagnosing as there are many symptoms that may appear similar to various conditions. In addition to that, it may be challenging to verify the authenticity or credibility of the information provided. Thus, the Malaysian Society of Allergy and Immunology (MSAI) is pleased to collaborate with Nippon Paint on the Child Wellness Programme to provide expert advice to parents and key decision makers.”

Under the Child Wellness Programme, the partnership with MPA will see collaborative efforts in public outreach through seeding of expert and educational content, engagements with medical experts as well as roundtable sessions as provision of first line of advice to parents. While Nippon Paint is collaborating with MSAI to highlight key information to raise awareness on indoor allergens in health-related issues via a web series on Nippon Paint’s Facebook platform and other engagements such as Facebook Live clinics, expert speaker series and expert roundtable sessions.

As part of the Child Wellness Programme, Nippon Paint will also play a vital role as an advisory panellist for both PPBM and PTM, participating in training sessions, workshops to educate child care providers, kindergarten operators on the importance of indoor environment for children.  Nippon Paint will also provide advisory services on selection of colours and kids-safe coatings from its Child Wellness Range to facilitate a  uplifting and safer indoor environment for children.

Child Wellness Programme

In partnering with various associations on the Child Wellness Programme, Goh concluded,

“Indeed, it is alarming to know that Malaysians are still at high risk for many health-related issues, especially amongst young children. As a total coatings expert with 50 years of presence in Malaysia, we have since grown in leaps and bounds and today we have come a long way to be where we are today. Thus, our strategy is to provide functional coatings that provides parents the peace of mind for safer indoor environment for their children.”

According to Malaysian Society of Allergy and Immunology, one out of three Malaysians suffer from some form of allergy, children from parents with allergies also stand a 50-80% chance of developing an allergy. Parents and child care providers may lack relevant knowledge on the importance of the role a conducive indoor environment plays for the development of children.  At a young age, infants spend most of their time in the crib breathing in twice the amount of air as compared to an adult. Thus, indoor air quality should not be taken lightly as infants spend up to 8-20 hours a day indoors.  As babies continue to grow and make their way into toddlerhood, children at this age develop the sense of curiosity in which, crawling, flipping over, touch, bite, feel would come into place. The potential of indoor health risks then increases as children are now exposed to various surfaces such as walls and floors that may contain viruses and bacteria.

Children below the age of 5 are the most vulnerable to viruses and bacteria such as HFMD. With diseases like HFMD and H1N1 that were endemic in Malaysia, there is a need to seed out relevant information to educate parents and child care providers on the importance of indoor environment as children spend most of their time either in a day care centre, school or at home.

Creativity through play is essential for the child’s mental and physical development as it helps to enhance cognitive skills as well as self-worth and self-esteem values. Safe indoor environment should be a priority for all, however, parents and child care providers should also look into ways to provide an uplifting, conducive environment to encourage creativity. 20% of Malaysian children suffer from stress and anxiety due to stifling of play as most parents or caretakers provide restricted access to the type of play avoiding some “forbidden” plays such as scribbling on walls.