Sustaining Leadership and Support
for Scaling up Nutrition
U.S. development assistance has supported evidencebased approaches to nutrition to improve outcomes for the
most vulnerable populations since the 1970s.11 Over the
past three years, the U.S. government has demonstrated
high-level political support and commitment for scaling up
nutrition, resulting in an unprecedented level of support for
nutrition within the overall development agenda. Focusing
on evidence-based and cost-effective nutrition specific
interventions in the 1,000-day “window of opportunity”
from pregnancy to a child’s second birthday and on
nutrition-sensitive approaches, U.S. leadership has helped
raise awareness of the importance of maternal and child
nutrition for long-term development outcomes; leverage
resources from other donors; and integrate nutrition
across agriculture, health, and other sectors. This has been
demonstrated in important ways:
• During the United Nations summit on the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) in September 2010, Secretary
of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and her Irish counterpart
launched the 1,000 Days12 Partnership to catalyze action to
support the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement. The
joint donor statement released on this occasion underscored
the commitment of the United States and other donor
governments to strengthen coordination, to align existing
platforms with national priorities, and to track results to
improve nutrition outcomes. The 1,000 Days Partnership
set an ambitious goal: to achieve measurable results in
global nutrition during the 1,000-day period between
September 2010 and June 2013.
smart thing to do because better nutrition means lower
health care costs and it means less need for assistance later
on.”14
• Along with UNICEF, and the governments of India and
Ethiopia, the United States cosponsored the Child Survival
Call to Action that led to pledges by more than 50 countries
to reduce preventable child deaths to developed country
levels—20 per 1,000 live births—by 2035.15 Improving
maternal and child nutrition is an integral part of achieving
this goal.
Although funding levels remain far below the need,
U.S. government funding for nutrition has increased
in recent years.16 Since FY 2010,17 nutrition has been
designated a separate element within the Global Health
and Child Survival account (now the Global Health
Program (GHP) account). This accelerated progress and
heightened awareness of the importance of nutrition in
the development agenda on the part of leaders, along with
political commitment and the availability of increased
funding for nutrition, represent a major step towards
scaling up nutrition.18 Since 2010, 27 countries have joined
the SUN Movement and more high-burden19 countries
seek the international community’s assistance to scale up
maternal and child nutrition.
Collaboration with country governments, donors, civil
society, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and other
development partners is essential to developing, managing,
and sustaining nutrition interventions at scale. Now is an
opportune time to assess U.S. capacity to support countryled nutrition strategies and to invest in the systems and
organizational structures that will sustain the progress made
• In the lead-up to the 2012 Camp David G-8
Summit, President Obama emphasized
the importance of nutrition in a speech
on agriculture and food security: “We’re
going to keep focusing on nutrition,
especially for young children, because we
know the effects of poor nutrition can last
a lifetime—it’s harder to learn, it’s harder
to earn a living. When there is good
nutrition, especially in those thousand
days during pregnancy up to the child’s
second birthday, it means healthier lives
for that child and that mother. And it’s the
www.bread.org
Laura Elizabeth Pohl/Bread for the World
• In April 2010, Dr. Rajiv Shah,
Administrator,
U.S.
Agency
for
International Development, agreed to
join 26 other leaders in serving on the
Lead Group for the Scaling Up Nutrition
Movement.13
USAID Administrator Dr. Rajiv Shah emphasized the importance of sustaining momentum on
global nutrition at a May 2012 Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) event on Capitol Hill.
Bread for the World Institute 3