In honour of Children’s Month currently underway in Mexico, Sesame Workshop’s Plaza Sésamo has partnered with MetLife Foundation to develop a multimedia initiative providing educational health messages to Mexican preschoolers and their families.

In Mexico, 5.4% of children under five are overweight and obese, a number that rises to 19.5% in children 5-11 and increases into adulthood. In response to these statistics, the program will include on-air health messages broadcasting before Plaza Sésamo on Televisa, a nutritional book entitled Move and Eat Well with Plaza Sésamo and various posters with healthy tips for parents and teachers to enforce.

The Plaza Sésamo Healthy Habits for Life materials will be distributed in partnership with various governmental and nongovernmental institutions. The pilot phase will focus on distribution in a public hospital for children and DIF orphanages, rural schools in partnership with the Secretariat for Public Education, women’s penitentiaries where children can live with their mothers until they are six years-old and in community centers where women receive health and financial literacy.

Plaza Sésamo is broadcast in Mexico on Televisa Canal 5 and on Discovery Kids in major territories throughout Latin America. In addition, children can visit www.plazasesamo.com for tips and articles on healthy nutrition and other healthy habits.