CIFF Marks ‘Nutrition for Growth’ First Anniversary

Ensuring affordable access to nutritious food is the key to preventing nearly half of global child deaths.

Under-nutrition is the largest single contributor to child mortality worldwide and directly causes 11% of the global disease burden.

At a micro level, it has a devastating impact on vulnerable children and families as stunting caused by poor nutrition impairs brain development.

If a child does not have adequate nutrition in the first 1000 days of life, it means by two or three years old, they will simply never be able to reach their full potential.

On Wednesday, world leaders reaffirmed their commitment to the pledges made on the 8th of June 2013 at the inaugural Nutrition for Growth summit in London, where the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), together with the governments of the UK and Brazil, co-hosted the high-level international meeting entitled ‘Nutrition for Growth: Beating Hunger through Business and Science’.

The one year anniversary invites reflection on progress made against the pledges made.

The verdict: global prosperity is still being undermined by the silent crisis of under-nutrition. The urgency of concrete and coordinated action has never been higher.

Last week DFID published its “One Year On Update” which outlines its progress over the last year and priorities for the coming year.

It is working closely with the Government of Brazil, which plans to host a nutrition event at the Rio Olympics in 2016.

Marking the anniversary, Michael Anderson, chief executive officer of CIFF, called for more cross functional collaboration to tackle the crisis head on.

Hailing the progress made in Rwanda, for instance, by developing and delivering a clear multi-sector plan, Anderson argued “innovation is important, but the focus should be on basic execution – we know what needs to be done”.

The Commitment: Bringing together business leaders, scientists, governments and civil society, more than 100 stakeholders signed the ‘Global Nutrition for Growth Compact’ in 2013 and collectively committed to reduce the number of stunted children by 20 million, saving 1.7 million lives by reaching 500 million women and children with effective interventions.

The UK Government committed an additional £375 million for direct nutrition programmes between now and 2020 and an additional £280 million if matched by others. 29 companies have signed up to the Nutrition for Growth Compact and CIFF committed $700 million. In addition the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation pledged $800 million to support work on nutrition and agriculture.

The anniversary marks the first in a series of milestones to drive the agenda forward.

Reports such as “The Cost of Hunger in Africa”, the HANCI report to be published later this month and the first Global Nutrition report in November 2014 all contribute to raising awareness and accountability for nutrition and will build up to the new post-2015 development goals to be launched in 2015 and a nutrition event at the Rio Olympics in 2016 to mark concrete progress in the fight against under-nutrition.

The Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) is an independent philanthropic organisation which aims to bring about demonstrable improvement in the lives of children in developing countries, through large-scale, effective investment.

Also, the Department for International Development (DFID) leads the UK’s work to end extreme poverty.

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