National People's Congress Deputy Wei Lihua: Suggests Promoting the "Student Milk Program" for Inclusive Supply

As an important part of the Healthy China strategy, the nutrition and health of children and adolescents have always been a focus of attention. Wei Lihua, a deputy to the National People’s Congress and Chairman and President of Junlebao Dairy Group, once again focused on this issue this year, proposing to promote the nationwide “Student Drinking Milk Program” to ensure equitable access, and calling for the benefits of development to reach every student fairly.

It is reported that since the launch of the “Student Drinking Milk Program” in 2000, it has covered 31 provinces, regions, and cities across the country. In 2024, the daily supply volume reached 26.72 million servings, making it an important livelihood project to improve youth nutrition. However, currently, only about 17% of students in compulsory education are covered by milk programs, leaving over 80% of students unserved, indicating significant room for improvement.

Wei Lihua pointed out, “Promoting the student milk program to become universally accessible is a common practice internationally.” According to a report by the International Dairy Federation, the student milk program has been implemented in over 104 countries worldwide. Surveys show that 61% of student milk programs provide free milk to students, while 34% offer subsidized prices. Government-led initiatives with financial support are the main successful models. He suggested incorporating the student drinking milk into the basic public education services at the national level, establishing a financial guarantee mechanism, and promoting universal coverage for students in compulsory education nationwide.

To achieve the transition from “partial coverage” to “comprehensive accessibility,” Wei Lihua proposed a phased implementation approach: prioritize starting in concentrated impoverished areas and rural elementary schools, then gradually expand nationwide. Regarding funding, he recommended establishing a proportional sharing mechanism between central and local governments and favoring the central and western regions and rural areas.

“Safety is the lifeline of universal access,” Wei Lihua emphasized. It is essential to strengthen quality and safety supervision across the entire chain, strictly enforce the management system for student drinking milk labels, and improve the traceability system from production to consumption with full cold chain logistics. Additionally, promoting campus food education and science popularization, integrating nutrition and health knowledge into daily education, is vital to guide students to develop scientific milk-drinking habits. In the long term, he also called for advancing legislation on student nutrition to clearly define responsibilities through legal means, ensuring the sustained and standardized development of this livelihood project.

Editor: Lin Chen