It was an important day for Parliamentarians pressing for UK action to combat global malnutrition and hunger. That afternoon, 4 February 2025, the Minister for Development Anneliese Dodds appeared at the International Development Committee’s final session on Zero Hunger. After sunset, many congregated again alongside colleagues and representatives from civil society at a reception in Westminster’s Thames Pavilion.
Looking Ahead to Nutrition for Growth 2025 was co-hosted by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Nutrition for Development, and the International Coalition for Advocacy on Nutrition (ICAN) UK. Its purpose was to build cross-party momentum and support for the forthcoming Nutrition for Growth (N4G) Summit in Paris in March – a crucial international political opportunity to tackle the scourge of malnutrition.
It is an opportunity not to be missed.
Right now, in the 21st century, the inequality of malnutrition makes it the biggest killer of children under the age of five. Weakened survivors are all too often left disadvantaged since deprivation of essential nutrients at the start of life causes irreversible physical and mental impairment. Multiplied throughout populations, preventable and treatable malnutrition damages entire economies and threatens geopolitical stability.
United Against Malnutrition & Hunger is the Secretariat of the APPG on Nutrition for Development and its Co-Chair Rt Hon David Mundell MP opened the event and welcomed guests.
He was followed by speakers Sayyeda Salam, Executive Director of Concern Worldwide UK, Fatima Askira, Founder of BOWDI (Borno Women Development Initiative), and Misan Harriman, activist, photographer, and filmmaker who is a Save the Children Ambassador. The Minister for Africa, Lord Ray Collins of Highbury also spoke, and the APPG’s Co-Chair, Steve Race, MP for Exeter made closing remarks.
Good nutrition is foundational to individual and global development. So, the UK Government and its partners’ commitments at N4G could improve the health, development, and earning capability of millions worldwide, especially women and children.
David Mundell made this point. In pregnancy, good nutrition leads to healthier mothers and safer births. It reduces stillbirth and stunting in children. It makes vaccines more effective, protecting us all, he said.
Held every four years and usually organised by the host country of the Olympic and Paralympic games, the summits bring together international leaders from government, NGOs, businesses, and philanthropy to pledge funds and elevate nutrition on the development agenda.
Britain hosted the first summit in 2013, a year after the London Games, establishing itself as a key global nutrition partner. Current statistics tell us that it is time to reclaim that legacy.
As Sayyeda Salam said, 45 million children are suffering from wasting, 148 million from stunting, and the rate of anaemia has risen to affect three in 10 women globally.
ICAN UK, a network of more than 30 organisations collaborating to save and improve lives through better nutrition, advocates that N4G is an opportunity for the UK Government to change track from the 60% cut in ODA spending on nutrition made in 2021.
Sayyeda Salam spoke about the policy and financial recommendations ICAN UK has made to the Government for N4G. These include investing £500 million in nutrition-specific programmes, ensuring £2.5 billion of ODA (Official Development Assistance) is nutrition-sensitive from 2025-2030, and integrating nutrition across key sectors, including climate, health, and agriculture.
The investment case is persuasive. Every $1 invested in addressing malnutrition, yields $23 in returns, she said.
Faced with global hunger numbers that stretch into hundreds of millions, it can be hard to comprehend the human stories behind each one – a reality recounted to guests by Fatima Askira, who spoke about the anguish of parents of malnourished children in Nigeria. She called for an urgent scale-up of humanitarian assistance and strengthened health systems.
The deeply distressing inequality of malnutrition was echoed by Misan Harriman. Like all the speakers and attendees, he was invited to answer the question ‘I care about global hunger and malnutrition because…’ His answer, written on a board, was simply: “I am human”. His call to action was heartfelt, urging Parliamentarians to act at N4G “because children are the closest I have come to the celestial.”
Lord Collins has a long and impressive track record of championing nutrition, including as the former Co-Chair of the APPG on Nutrition for Development, understanding that it is the first step in development.
He cautioned the audience not to underestimate his commitment to nutrition nor that of the Minister for Development. However, Lord Collins confirmed the Government would not make a financial pledge at N4G, and decisions on spending on nutrition and development would come after the spending review.
The Minister for Africa said he hoped to announce targets for integrating nutrition across the Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO) portfolio, that there would be a timetable of commitments made at the summit and stressed the importance of a cross-party approach.
Collaboration between different political perspectives was certainly evident at the reception. The gathering included cross-party Parliamentarians including Bobby Dean, Liberal Democrat MP for Carshalton and Wallington, Lord Cameron of Dillington, Crossbench Member of the House of Lords, Rt Hon Baroness Featherstone, Liberal Democrat Member of the House of Lords, Josh Fenton-Glynn, Labour MP for Calder Valley, Monica Harding, Liberal Democrat MP for Esher and Walton and Spokesperson on International Development, Alice MacDonald, Labour MP for Norwich North, Rt Hon Wendy Morton, Conservative MP for Aldridge-Brownhills and Shadow FCDO Minister, and Lord Purvis of Tweed, Liberal Democrat Member of the House of Lords and Spokesperson on International Development.
Representatives of ICAN UK at the reception included Action Against Hunger UK, Concern Worldwide UK, Results UK, Save the Children UK, The Power of Nutrition, UNICEF UK, and World Vision UK. They were joined by Eleanor Crook Foundation, GAIN (Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition), ONE, The End Fund, World Food Programme, International Committee of the Red Cross, and delegates from the FCDO, the French Government, and University College London.
Steve Race made closing remarks, thanking speakers who had contributed insight to the discussion, and guests for coming.
Articulating why he cared about global malnutrition and hunger Steve Race wrote: “Good nutrition is foundational to achieving all the Sustainable Development Goals.”
Indeed, elevating nutrition on the international development agenda at N4G and beyond will accelerate progress toward shared global goals.
That is the route to the fairer, safer, more peaceful, and prosperous world in which we all want to live.
