$ 10 for a Global Solidarity Alliance to Combat Malnutrition and Its Consequences

$ 10 more investment for each child each year would be enough, according to the World Bank, to provide an aid package that by 2025 would be able to:

• reduce the number of stunted children under the age of five in the world by 40 %
• reduce the number of children born with low birth weight by 30%
• reduce the number of mothers affected by anemia by 50%; and
• double the mothers’ willingness to breastfeed for six months

That means an additional investment of around 70 billion dollars a year over the next 10 years is needed to save the lives of 2.2 million children (1). The sample calculation are taken from the Global Investment Framework for Nutrition, an analysis of the World Bank that calculates how much it costs to efficiently limit the causes and consequences of micronutrient deficiencies. This also shows that the funds provided  by the UN donor countries and other relief organizations to date are far from sufficient.

The  initiative InvestInNutrition, which accompanies the Global Investment Framework for Nutrition, calls for a global solidarity alliance to help the world’s poorest children in the world and to invest in the future in the long term (2). In addition to increasing national and international budgets, this should also include better planning and monitoring of the use of funds (3).

Read and see more:

(1)Cf. Figure ES.3

M Sheekar et al. An Investment Framework for Nutrition: Reaching the Global Targets for Stunting, Anemia, Breastfeeding and Wasting. Directions in Development – Human Development; Washington, DC: World Bank. © World Bank. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/26069 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.

(2) See the website http://investinnutrition.org/.

(3) Cf. A Flory in K Towes. Getting to know Augustin Flory: Q&A with R4D’s new nutrition lead. Blog 27.04.2017. Available via http://www.resultsfordevelopment.org/blog/2017-04-27/getting-know-augustin-flory-qa-r4d%E2%80%99s-new-nutrition-lead