Presentation of FAO's Child Wasting Prevention Action Plan For Resource Mobilization Partners Opening Remarks
by Dr QU Dongyu, FAO Director-General
12/12/2022
Presentation of FAO's Child Wasting Prevention Action Plan
For Resource Mobilization Partners
Opening Remarks
By
Dr QU Dongyu, FAO Director-General
12 December 2022
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Esteemed Partners,
1. Thank you for joining us today for this important initiative.
2. As 2030 nears, we are drifting further and further away from achieving the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals,
3. As the pandemic, conflicts and the climate crisis have knocked us off course.
4. Child wasting represents a particularly daunting challenge that we need to urgently and effectively address.
5. The 15 worst-affected countries are home to more than 30 million wasted children - 8 million of whom suffer from severe wasting,
6. The most life-threatening form of undernutrition in early childhood, which increases children's risk of death by up to 12 times.
7. The situation is grim, but there is still time for action, with coordinated efforts among humanitarian and development actors to address the root causes of child wasting.
8. That is why the Global Action Plan on Child Wasting is so critical.
9. It calls on us all to work together to prevent, detect and treat child wasting globally.
10. Children living in acute food insecurity are particularly vulnerable to wasting.
11. It directly impacts their growth and development, puts at risk the livelihoods of their families, and ultimately affects the resilience of their entire community.
12. Approximately two-thirds of people experiencing acute food insecurity live in rural areas, and rely on some form of agriculture for their survival.
13. For this reason, FAO is scaling-up efforts to address child wasting under the Global Action Plan, together with partners across the United Nations system.
14. Today, we are launching FAO's Child Wasting Prevention Action Plan, seeking USD 500 million over the next two years to help 1 million families with the most at-risk children in the 15 worst affected countries.
15. Under this Action Plan, FAO will help these families to produce steady supplies of nutritious foods, alongside training in good nutrition practices.
16. This will contribute to building their resilience, enabling them to cope with inevitable future shocks and stresses, and breaking the cycle of distress that underlies child wasting.
17. This Action Plan is aligned with national, regional and global priorities, helping to deliver on the FAO Strategic Framework 2022-31, and contributing to the transformation of global agrifood systems to be more efficient, more inclusive, more resilient and more sustainable.
18. In support of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals,
19. To ensure the Four Betters: Better Production, Better Nutrition, a Better Environment, and a Better Life for all – leaving no one, and no child, behind.
20. I call on you to invest in prevention now to reduce child wasting today.
21. In these times of overwhelming and overlapping crises, this is more important than ever.
22. Thank you.