WASHINGTON, April 24, 2010—With malnutrition causing the deaths of as many as 3 million mothers and young children every year, ministers, heads of development agencies, and civil society organizations attending the World Bank and IMF Spring Meetings are appealing to governments worldwide to invest more in halving the rate of malnutrition, one of the 2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Meeting for a high-level nutrition roundtable in Washington—co-hosted by Canada, Japan, the United States, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and the World Bank—ministers and other senior representatives heard how better nutrition―called the "forgotten MDG" for its historical neglect by aid donors―would not only sharply reduce hunger and malnutrition but also would significantly improve the health of mothers and children worldwide since research shows that malnourished mothers cannot deliver healthy children, and undernourished children are more likely to die. Focusing nutrition interventions on this special window of opportunity from pre-pregnancy until 2 years of age is therefore crucial to achieving many of the MDGs, especially MDGs 4 and 5. Despite the potential high returns to nutrition investments, latest OECD figures show that overseas development aid for nutrition has been modest, with commitments of less than $300 million a year.
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/MUMA-84U67T?OpenDocument
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