At the Tokyo Nutrition for Growth (N4G) Summit this week, government and private sector contributors offered more than US$27 billion to solve the worldwide malnutrition and hunger issue. 45 nations with high malnutrition burdens and a dozen donors, represented by five heads of state and government, reinforced policy and financial commitments to end malnutrition. These agreements show government leadership and nutrition prioritization at a critical moment, when economic resources are limited and malnutrition rates are rising owing to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic.
“Stunting affects more than 140 million children, and undernutrition is thought to be the cause of approximately half of all fatalities in children mal the age of five.” COVID-19 has a major impact on nutrition as well. According to Japan’s Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, “the pandemic would undoubtedly cause 13.6 million more youngsters to suffer from wasting.” “Let me remind you of our 2030 Sustainable Development Goal to eradicate hunger, increase food security and nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture. It is now or never for us to act. “There should be no one left behind.”
At the ceremony, Japan pledged approximately US$2.8 billion to support global nutrition aid. This funding will help to accomplish nutrition in Universal Health Coverage and initiatives to establish more sustainable and healthy food systems, among other things.
Aside from the donor commitment, nations with high malnutrition burdens led the way at the Summit, offering additional domestic programming as well as stronger policies and programs to lower malnutrition rates. Bangladesh, for example, pledged to reduce anemia rates by one-third, childhood stunting by one-fifth, and childhood wasting by one-quarter during the next five years, as expressed by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
The Indonesian government has pledged to address malnutrition and, in particular, to increase efforts to minimize stunting across the country. Maternal and child nutrition initiatives will be supported, including infant and young child feeding promotion, nutritional supplementation for teenage girls and pregnant women, and nutrition care and support for severely malnourished children.
Despite the fact that malnutrition is the cause of over half of all child deaths under the age of five, nutrition receives less than 1% of worldwide foreign aid. Several donor states and multilateral organizations made a total of nearly US$27 billion in commitments at the Summit to help close the gap. The European Union pledged US$2.8 billion over three years, the US pledged US$11 billion over three years, and the African Development Bank pledged US$1.35 billion over six years.
The 2015 Global Nutrition Investment Framework, led by the World Bank and Results for Development, found a funding deficit of more than US$700 billion over ten years to provide evidence-based interventions primarily through the health sector. While the Summit’s commitments are a tremendous step forward, they nevertheless fall far short of what is required to eradicate malnutrition.
At the Summit, UN agencies also reaffirmed their promises. UNICEF plans to reach at least 500 million children, adolescents, and women with malnutrition prevention programs each year by 2025, to prevent stunting, wasting, micronutrient deficiencies, overweight, and obesity. The World Health Organization (WHO) has pledged to create a Global Action Plan to prevent and manage anemia in women and children, with the goal of halving anemia in women of reproductive age by 2030. The World Food Programme has committed to increasing the proportion of beneficiaries of its programs who eat healthy meals to 80% by 2025.
In addition, 44 civil society organizations from 26 countries made a variety of financial and programmatic commitments, the majority of which were aimed at reducing rates of undernutrition in vulnerable populations by improving nutritional care, improving diets, and strengthening social protection services. These parties have agreed to invest around $1 billion in urgent interventions. At the occasion, more than a dozen private sector organizations made pledges, including food companies that promised to enhance the nutritional quality of their goods, contribute to more sustainable food systems, and improve the diets of their staff. Non-food firms that provide healthy and sustainable meals to their employees and join relevant global alliances to support improved farming practices and the quality of their employees’ diets.
Even before COVID-19, the global burden of malnutrition remained alarmingly high, despite progress in reducing the more severe forms of malnutrition, such as stunting and early infantile wasting. Over the next three years, malnutrition caused by COVID-19 might kill 283,000 more children under the age of five, leave 13.6 million more wasted and 3.6 million more stunted, and make 4.8 million more women anemic.
The Nutrition for Growth Summit, held on the 7th and 8th of December, focused on improving nutrition outcomes in fragile and conflict-affected states through universal health care, food system transformation, and better resilience. The Summit also underlined the need of funding and solid data systems in improving program design, delivery, and accountability. The Summit marks the end of the Nutrition for Growth Year of Action, a global effort to bring country governments, funders, corporations, and UN agencies together to accelerate progress against malnutrition.
During the Tokyo Summit’s closing session, French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Jean-Yves Le Drian, announced France’s commitment to host the next Nutrition for Growth Summit in 2024, which will be held in conjunction with the Paris Olympic Games. The next Summit will be an opportunity to assess progress and accountability for promises made this week, as well as make additional commitments to address malnutrition in the remaining five years of the SDGs.
