modest. For example, recent research by IFPRI shows that a specific package of
nutrition actions could reduce chronic malnutrition by 36 percent. The cost?
Just $100 per child.
More good news—that child nutrition efforts can bring quick results—
comes from the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement, a
group of developing countries (31 at last count) and international organizations working together to expand effective nutrition actions during the 1,000 Days. SUN countries each develop a plan that includes specific targets to improve maternal/
child nutrition.
SUN reports, “Countries which have taken concerted action
to reduce [malnutrition] have shown remarkably fast rates of
reduction. Brazil, Peru, Thailand and China are among these.
This shows what can be done with the right policies and [programs] in place. Through SUN, these countries can influence
and support others to do the same.”
SUN is part of the energy—the increased global leadership
and political commitment of recent years—that is fueling progress against hunger. Many of the poorest countries are sharing
in this progress.
The SUN Framework for Action includes tasks such as increasing children’s consumption of vitamins and minerals.
“Making Snacks More Nutritious” was the theme of a meeting
attended by Bread for the World Institute staff in Chaumala,
a village outside the city of Dhangadhi in western Nepal. The
gathering of about 25 women with young children was made
possible by U.S. development assistance, which funded Nepal’s
Action Against Malnutrition through Agriculture (AAMA)
project.
Young women demonstrated how to prepare and cook the
snack, cutlets made of potatoes and seasonal green vegetables
coated in an egg-based batter. They are a more nutritious but
still affordable alternative to plain fried potatoes. Afterward
everyone sampled the cutlets, served with sliced sweet potato.
Luckily, they were a hit with their most important critics—the toddlers who
most need those nutrients.
Another key “component” of AAMA could be heard quite clearly: several
squawking hens in a wooden coop. Parents need information (for example,
15 percent:
The “emergency threshold” malnutrition
rate, according to the U.N. Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Laura Elizabeth Pohlt/Bread for the World
ESSAY 5
Sarmin Begum and her child Sun, 24
months, in Char Baria village, Barisal,
Bangladesh.
36 percent:
Malnutrition rate in southern Somalia
when humanitarian aid began to rise
significantly.
www.bread.org/institute
n
Development Works 29