Investing in Global Maternal & Child Health and Nutrition: A multisector Response

11 June 2021, Washington, D.C. - “Malnutrition contributes to close to 3 million childhood deaths under the age of 5 every year,” said Eric Mitchell, Executive Director of the Alliance to End Hunger. “On the other hand, investing in nutrition, particularly within the first 1000 days between the start of a woman’s pregnancy to the child’s second birth date greatly contributes to a reduction in child mortality and supports long-term cognitive development, physical growth and overall quality of life.”

In addition, Mitchell emphasized that the upcoming Nutrition for Growth Summit and the UN Food Systems Summit “provide ideal global moments for the world to come together to commit to ensuring that every mother and child regardless of background, nationality or income has access to basic nutritional needs.”

Marking a critical opportunity for the global food security and nutrition community, FAO North America and the Alliance to End Hunger co-hosted a virtual roundtable: “Investing in Global Maternal & Child Health and Nutrition: A Multisector Response,” highlighting why investing in maternal and child nutrition is vital for reaching Sustainable Development Goal 2.

During the roundtable discussion and audience Q&A session moderated by Eric Mitchell, expert panelists discussed the devastating impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on malnutrition, and the many social and economic benefits of investing in maternal and child health and nutrition, especially during the first 1000 days from conception to the child’s second birthday.

In his opening statement, Thomas Pesek, Senior Liaison Officer at FAO North America shared a powerful quote by Roger Thurow that adequately captures the core burden of malnutrition. “Perhaps the greatest cost of childhood malnutrition and stunting are immeasurable. A poem not written, a horizon not explored, an innovation not nurtured, a cure not discovered. We must ask ourselves, what might a child have contributed to the world if he or she had not been stunted? For a lost chance at greatness for one child, is a lost chance for all of us.”

Dr. Jessica Fanzo, Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Food Ethics and Policy and Director of Global Food Ethics and Policy Program at Johns Hopkins University, discussed in her keynote address how there have been pockets of progress in eliminating malnutrition but stressed how progress is not happening fast enough or on a large enough scale. “The effects of malnutrition are devastating, they are intergenerational, and they impact not only the health of individuals and their communities but also social equity issues and long-term economic issues,” stated Fanzo.

There are two common misconceptions when it comes to the policy dialogue surrounding malnutrition noted Shawn K. Baker, Chief Nutritionist at USAID. “One is that nutrition can wait, and the second is the idea that nutrition competes with other priorities,” said Baker, emphasizing how nutrition investment is urgently needed during COIVD-19 recovery to save lives, safeguard gains, and address inequity.

Dr. Meera Shekar, Global Lead of Health, Nutrition and Population at the World Bank, underlined the COVID-19 crisis is leading to worsened malnutrition, an increase in child deaths, and extreme economic losses. “We already had 149 million stunted children, but this crisis will add another 2.6 million stunted children, another 9.3 wasted children, and 168,000 additional child deaths. This is a tragedy in itself, but linked with economic losses, we estimate about 30 billion dollars in lost productivity due to these increases alone,” emphasized Dr. Shekar.

Dr. Meera Shekar added to this urgent call to action by stating how investing in nutrition has such a high return of investment. “Every dollar that is invested into nutrition, especially within the first 1000 days, has a return of investment from 16 to 35 dollars,” said Dr. Shekar. “My mantra for nutrition financing has always been that we need more money for nutrition, but we also need to provide more nutrition for the money that is being spent,” added Dr. Shekar, calling for more efficiency of current spending and a greater focus on evidence-based investments from the private sector.

All panelists called for multisectoral collaboration in addressing and financing maternal and child health and nutrition. Dr. Nancy Aburto, Deputy Director of the Food and Nutrition Division at FAO emphasized the work that FAO is doing to strengthen nutrition governance across the food system, education system, health system, and social protection system with the end goal of increasing financing and coherence of interventions to make a bigger impact.

Timothy Strong, Head of Agriculture Finance at Opportunity International, shared the significant results that come from investments into farming households. “Farmers are actually one of the largest populations among the food insecure and malnourished in the world,” stated Strong. “Investments into farming households resulted in an average increase in income by 61 percent which directly correlated to household feedback of 57 percent reporting diet improvements,” he continued.

Taryn Barclay, Senior Director of Strategic Partnerships and Stakeholder Engagement at Cargill further emphasized the importance of financial interventions and added how the private sector also has so much to bring in terms of technical expertise.

The session highlighted how, by investing in maternal and child malnutrition within the first 1000 days, the global community has the opportunity not only to save millions of lives but also to gain immense social and economic potential that we otherwise will never get back. From the health sector to the food system and the economy, investing in maternal and child health and nutrition should be an immediate priority for all sectors and governments around the world.

Additional Resources

Watch the webinar
Speaker bios
Jessica Fanzo’s PowerPoint presentation 
FAO’s work in nutrition
Vision and Strategy for FAO’s Work in Nutrition
Word Bank Report “Obesity: Health and Economic Consequences of an Impending Global Challenge” 
An Investment Framework for Nutrition
The Power of Nutrition