Global nutrition investors pool US$3B to address hunger and malnutrition crisis

16 Dec 2020 --- Global governments and health advocates have committed over US$3 billion to address the unrelenting global hunger and nutrition crisis.

The investors, which include the Pakistani and Canadian governments, UNICEF, The World Bank and World Vision International, convened online at the virtual Nutrition for Growth Year of Action event.

“US$3 billion is a small fraction of what is needed over the next five years but it is an important and significant first step toward a year of effort in adding much more to that total over the next 12 months,” Catrin Kissick, manager of the Standing Together for Nutrition Consortium at the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), tells NutritionInsight.

GAIN is a Swiss foundation tackling global human suffering caused by malnutrition, active in the Nutrition for Growth event. 

“Our food system highlights that our world is interlinked, and that investment in nutrition is an investment in people and global development.”

A generation at risk
Data from Stand Together for Nutrition reveals that unless the world steps up its efforts, children under the age of five in under-resourced settings will bear the brunt with an estimated 9.3 million additional children at risk of wasting in 2020-2022. 

“COVID-19 has already undone one decade of progress on nutrition. Failure to act now means we put an entire generation at risk,” says Lawrence Haddad, executive director of GAIN and Saskia Osendarp, executive director of the The Micronutrient Forum, co-conveners of Standing Together for Nutrition Consortium. 

With hunger on the rise, poor diets are now the leading risk factor of death worldwide. They are responsible for one in every five deaths globally – more than tobacco, high blood pressure or any other health issue.

COVID-19 has undone a decade of progress on nutrition, according to Standing Together for Nutrition data.US$1.2 billion still needed
New financing estimates show that to combat the effects of COVID-19 on child stunting, child wasting and maternal anemia, an additional US$1.2 billion is needed annually on top of the Global Nutrition Investment Framework financing estimates of US$7 billion per year.

“The beauty of the Nutrition for Growth is that it’s a global platform where governments and decision-makers demonstrate their commitment to nutrition,” adds Kissick.

“It is imperative that we continue bringing stakeholders and decision makers together to seize the opportunity to create healthier societies regardless of the format/shape of the platform.” 

The pandemic’s toll on malnutrition
Malnutrition research from this July revealed the US$850 billion cost of malnutrition for businesses. Overall, COVID-19 has tipped the world “off-track” to achieve Zero Hunger by 2030.

“The pandemic has disrupted access to nutritious, affordable diets; essential nutrition services; and child feeding practices in many countries around the world,” says UNICEF executive director Henrietta Fore. 

“Now is the time to focus even more on the nutrition of children and women. 2021 presents us with a unique opportunity to respond, recover and reimagine better, more effective nutrition policies, programs and actions for the future, and to emerge from the COVID-19 crisis stronger than before.”

The financial commitments made during the event aim to equip caregivers to prepare locally sourced nutritious food, provide supplementary feeding for pregnant and breastfeeding parents and provide more regular nutrition counseling.

The focus lies on interconnecting nutrition, gender equality, women’s empowerment and child welfare.

The Bangladeshi government re-committed to its programs for vitamin A supplementation and large-scale food fortification (Credit: GAIN/Yousuf Tushar).Donations against hunger
The Canadian government pledged CA$520 million (US$407 million) to nutrition programming through 2025. Meanwhile, the Pakistani government has put US$2.18 billion toward addressing malnutrition and stunting by 2025.

The government of Bangladesh re-committed to strengthening nutritional educational and counseling services, programs for vitamin A supplementation and deworming and large-scale food fortification. 

Christian humanitarian World Vision International will dedicate US$500 million in private funding to nutrition by 2025, focusing particularly on women and girls’ malnutrition.

“We know from bitter experience in 100 countries that malnutrition steals so many young children’s lives and diminishes the lifelong potential for hundreds of millions more, with a disproportionate impact on girls,” says World Vision International’s president and CEO Andrew Morley.

UNICEF mirrors this commitment with an annual investment of at least US$700 million over the next five years for nutrition programs for children, adolescents and women. 

The World Bank also announced US$500 million in Early Response Financing from the IDA-19 Crisis Response Window, to be targeted to countries facing food insecurity crises – of which nutrition issues are an important part. 

“There are many pledging moments in the next few years and we need others to step up so that we make it a making year for nutrition versus a breaking year,” Kissick concludes. 

By Anni Schleicher