Good nutrition is critical for a healthy and productive life. However, undernutrition plays a role in the deaths of nearly half of all children under five, and poor nutrition in early childhood impairs proper child development and learning, reduces resistance to disease, and stops children from reaching their full potential.
Since 2013, the UK has played a big role in the global fight against malnutrition, helping to establish the ‘Nutrition for Growth’ (‘N4G’) agenda, which raised $23 billion over 7 years for nutrition programmes. But the money pledged in 2013 comes to an end in 2020, and we are still a long way from meeting global nutrition targets. This year, the Government of Japan will host the next Global Nutrition Summit in December, with a ‘pledging moment’ for donors during the Olympic Games in July.
If you’ve taken an action on nutrition over the last year, thank you! Now, we’re close to the time when the Government must take action. So we’re asking you to write to Secretary of State for International Development, Anne-Marie Trevelyan MP, asking her to pledge £800 million per year for the period 2021-25, and to ask Prime Minister Boris Johnson to show political leadership by attending the pledging event in Tokyo in July.
In the next few days, the UK will have left the European Union, making Britain’s position in the world of extra importance to the Government. Speculation is rife about a potential merger of the UK’s international development and foreign affairs functions. Whoever is in charge of the UK aid budget in the coming weeks, it is vital that they see strong financial support for global nutrition as a key part of their mission to end preventable child deaths.