Nutrition for Growth II
The past few years have seen a dramatic improvement in how nutrition is prioritised and funded. Food, nutrition and health now have much greater visibility in international development agendas. The Brazilian government has built on this momentum by hosting a Nutrition for Growth event in Rio on the 4th August 2016. This important event revisits the commitments made at the first Nutrition for Growth Summit in London 2013, in the run up to the second Nutrition for Growth summit.
Prioritising nutrition
At the first Nutrition for Growth Summit (N4GI), held in London in 2013, signatories committed their political will and financial resources to accelerate progress towards achieving the World Health Assembly (WHA) nutrition targets by 2025.
The second Nutrition for Growth Summit (N4GII) will enable world leaders to review action against their commitments to nutrition and articulate new ambitions for ending all forms of malnutrition.
The recent decision of the UN General Assembly to declare 2016-2025 as the Decade of Action on Nutrition, also presents a major opportunity to mobilise action around reducing hunger and improving nutrition.
The need for action
There is a great deal that policymakers can do to address all forms of malnutrition so that people now and in the future have access to better quality diets. The Global Panel shows, in this brief, how bringing together efforts to improve infrastructure, strengthen regulatory frameworks for food safety, increase the productivity of nutrient rich foods and several other actions can accelerate nutrition gains as we enter this Decade of Action on nutrition.
Policymakers making pledges to improve nutrition need evidence, to guide them to devise effective policies based on the best science. The Global Panel calls for policymakers to now turn rhetoric into tangible and accountable actions on the ground.
The Global Panel’s recommendations for policymakers
The Global Panel, which is funded by DFID UK and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, launched its brief Nutrition for Growth II from commitment to action on 4th August 2016. It provides information and advice, in the form of 10 evidence-based recommendations, to help policymakers invest in effective policies to reduce all forms of malnutrition.
These recommendations have been drawn from a series of rigorous, scientific analyses conducted by the Panel, following its creation in 2013 as one of the commitments from the first Nutrition for Growth Summit, in London.