United Against Malnutrition & Hunger (UAMH) welcomes the International Development Committee’s (IDC) new report – The UK Government’s work on achieving SDG2: Zero Hunger – and its calls for the UK Government to lead by example to advance efforts to eliminate global hunger and make a bold and ambitious pledge at the upcoming Nutrition for Growth (N4G) Summit.
UAMH, a cross-party, cross-sector organisation, contributed to the report, and its Expert Advisor, Dr Mairo Mandara, appeared in person to give evidence.
The report is published ahead of next week’s Nutrition for Growth (N4G) in Paris: a critical four-yearly summit that aims to tackle the scourge of soaring global malnutrition and hunger.
UAMH’s CEO Lord Jonny Oates said: “We welcome the IDC’s report and in particular its recommendation that the UK Government should make a generous and well-targeted pledge at Nutrition for Growth. Pledging at least £50 million to the Child Nutrition Fund (CNF) the UK would mobilise domestic and philanthropic funding to address malnutrition. Such innovations are an important way to ensure the UK’s investment in nutrition goes further at a time of restricted finances.”
Global hunger is of huge geopolitical importance and has rocketed in recent years. In a world where three billion people cannot afford a healthy diet, and malnutrition is the leading cause of death of children under five, instability and violence fester. This powerful destabilising effect has geopolitical consequences that spread beyond borders.
UAMH agrees with the IDC’s conclusion that the Government’s recent decision to cut Official Development Assistance from 0.5% of GNI to 0.3% by 2027 could not have come at a worse time. The world is off track to meet Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2 Zero Hunger, and cuts in donor spending across Europe and the USA come at a time of ever-increasing need, as the IDC says.
Noting the IDC report’s finding that conflict breeds hunger and hunger breeds conflict, Jonny Oates said: “Strong international nutrition spending is essential to a secure and stable world and should be seen as part of our national security approach. We welcome the report’s recommendation that stabilisation and peacebuilding should be made a priority for the Government.”
Commitments made by the UK Government and its international partners at N4G have the power to transform the lives of millions of people worldwide, especially women and children who are most severely affected by global hunger.
Malnutrition is both preventable and treatable. The report calls on the Government to support low-cost high-impact nutrition-specific interventions, such as prenatal multiple micronutrient supplementation (MMS) and ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) which can pull young children back from the brink of starvation in weeks.
Jonny Oates said: “In a time of stretched foreign aid budgets it is vital that low-cost, high-impact nutrition interventions are protected and prioritised. It makes strategic sense to champion British science which is at the forefront of efforts to combat global hunger and support innovative solutions, such as the Child Nutrition Fund, to finance nutrition. We also welcome the report’s recommendations for Government action for exploring the potential of debt suspension clauses for low-income countries at high risk of backsliding on food security and nutrition.”
With the SDGs set to expire in 2030, now is the time to support international development to bring forward food security, gender equality, education, climate resilience, prosperity, and peace. The world in which we all want to live.
https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5901/cmselect/cmintdev/515/report.html
