A Way Forward on Nutrition
For too long, malnutrition has been overlooked in
international efforts to promote development. This is true
of donors that have failed to invest money, time, and energy
in effective nutrition programs and of developing country
governments that have not made fighting malnutrition a
priority. Given the impact of malnutrition on economic and
human development, this has been a costly oversight.
As the United States embarks on a new global food security
initiative, nutrition must be a central component. The United
States has the opportunity to lead an international agenda
for action on nutrition. This should:
Focus on what works: Evidence-based interventions
identified in The Lancet should be scaled up in all countries where malnutrition persists. Delivery strategies for
these interventions need to be designed to meet country
conditions. Scaling up these key interventions in the 36
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countries where 90 percent of stunted children live could
reduce deaths of children under age two by nearly 25
percent.54
Invest resources to bring interventions to scale: Bringing The
Lancet interventions to scale will require substantial new
investments since the resources dedicated to nutrition are
currently small. Funding for direct nutrition interventions
must be increased. The announcement of substantial new
commitments for agriculture and food security, made at
the G-8 summit in L’Aquila, Italy, in June 2009, presents
an important opportunity to increase spending on key
nutrition programs.
Margaret W. Nea
bitious goal in its Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Program: to reduce child malnutrition by an average of 15 percent in at least 10 countries by 2013. If this goal is reached,
it could improve the lives of approximately 14 million children.52 Achieving this goal will require substantial resources
but also coordinated action. However