‘Landmark’ nutrition pledges welcomed, concrete action must follow

Saturday, June 8, 2013

Promises made by governments, corporations and aid agencies in London today will save the lives of millions of children if they are followed through on, says World Vision. The leaders of countries, organisations and industries gathered together as part of the UK-hosted Nutrition for Growth Summit, ahead of the G8 later this month.

World Vision, one of the keynote speakers at the event, pledged US$1.2 billion towards tackling undernutrition, and challenged leaders from business, government and other organisations to increase their commitments as well.

Rose Ndolo, from World Vision in Kenya, told the leaders about a family she met – Saadia and her baby daughter, Fatuma.

“It was the dry season. Food supplies had run out and Fatuma had become sick. So sick that we rushed her to the nearest health centre, 80 kilometres away,” Rose recalled. “Saadia stayed by her daughter’s side for three days, as medical staff tried to stabilise her. But Fatuma died – just 18 months old. This was a medical emergency. But it wasn’t a road accident or injury that killed Fatuma. It was undernutrition.”

“And in response, they came up with the goods,” says World Vision UK’s CEO Justin Byworth, in London. “Together, in that room today, more than US$23 billion was pledged to fight undernutrition over the next eight years and, in the words of David Cameron, ‘saving 20 million children from chronic malnutrition by 2020’.

“These pledges are great news for our teams dealing with the effects of undernutrition every day. Given this week’s Lancet findings, that undernutrition contributes to 45 per cent of deaths of children under 5, it is especially encouraging to see so many concrete pledges made today to help stop this from happening.

“It was great to see commitments come from both traditional donors, but also from countries where undernutrition is a major issue, such as Malawi, Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and from businesses like DSM.

“The challenge now is to ensure that these promises become reality, and change children’s lives, particularly the most vulnerable in countries affected by conflict and fragility.

“Promises and pledges are the first step – the proof will be in the doing.”

During the summit 45,000 campaigners joined celebrities, business and religious leaders in London's Hyde Park as part of the Big IF rally. Bill Gates, Rowan Williams and Danny Boyle led addresses to the gathering to continue to inspire and motivate the public to action to end global hunger.

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