A Call to Action on Nutrition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 21, 2009
At the July G8 L'Aquila Summit, President Obama succeeded in securing joint commitments from G8 and G20 donors of $20 billion for food security over the next three years. The United States is committed to increasing our investments in a comprehensive, country-led food security strategy in accordance with the L'Aquila principles.
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has a long history in supporting nutrition programs, food aid programs, and agricultural development. A comprehensive food security strategy integrates nutrition, and improving maternal and child nutrition should be a key measure of success.
In the developing world, maternal and child undernutrition contributes to 3.5 million preventable deaths annually and 180 million children are undernourished. In order to build sustainable solutions to food insecurity, we must link poverty reduction, agricultural growth, and improved nutrition. This will maximize the benefit of our collective investments. By including nutrition in a comprehensive food security strategy, we can address acute needs as well as the chronic, underlying causes of hunger.
USAID expands evidence-based approaches to nutrition and supports innovative new approaches that will increase access and improve outcomes for the most vulnerable populations. USAID's strategic approach focuses on preventing malnutrition through a comprehensive package of maternal, infant, and young child nutrition programs; combating micronutrient deficiencies by targeted supplementation to vulnerable groups and food fortification; managing moderate or severe malnutrition through community-based programs; providing nutritional care and support for people living with HIV/AIDS; and improving nutritional outcomes in food security programs.
Renewed global action on nutrition is essential to accelerating progress on achieving Millennium Development Goals for maternal and child health, enhancing investments in food security and agricultural development, strengthening the fight against HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria, and stimulating increased productivity at the base of the economic pyramid.
Leading economists agree that nutrition is the best current investment that we can make in development. Poor nutrition has permanent consequences for the development of countries. It irreversibly lowers a child's intelligence early in life, making an undernourished child less able to learn and succeed in school. It decreases productivity and perpetuates poverty. It increases child and maternal mortality. It exacerbates gender inequities and disproportionately affects women and children, who so often hold the key to a country's future development.
Malnutrition is perpetuated throughout the lifecycle: malnourished girls are more likely to have children that are malnourished, to be less productive workers, to earn lower wages, and to develop non-communicable diseases later in life. In countries where half of women and children suffer from malnutrition the losses are staggering, yet this cycle is preventable. Improving nutrition can lift families out of poverty, contribute to economic growth, and reduce child and maternal mortality.
Good nutrition requires a diverse diet, consisting of frequent consumption of high-quality foods like fruits and vegetables and infrequent consumption of foods that are high in fat and sugars. Improving nutrition begins with empowering women to eat a healthy diet before and during pregnancy, and becomes a long-term investment in a child's education and economic potential.
Food security strategies should be designed, led and owned by countries themselves. There is no one-size-fits-all solution to improving nutrition.
We have the power to overcome this challenge by scaling up nutrition interventions. These interventions are evidence-based and cost effective, and they can save the lives of more than one million children per year and protect millions more from permanent cognitive and physical damage. The time to act is now.
The American people, through the U.S. Agency for International Development, have provided economic and humanitarian assistance worldwide for nearly 50 years.
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