That was proven in the decades following the famine in Ethiopia 40 years ago when British efforts were at the heart of international action that reduced the proportion of impoverished people in the world by almost half.
Now with malnutrition and hunger resurging – 783 million people do not have access to that most basic right, the right to food – and an even more cataclysmic famine in Sudan building, Parliamentarians must step up again.
So, it was encouraging that all three events United Against Malnutrition & Hunger (UAMH) staged at the main political parties’ conferences were well attended and produced energetic discussions between committed, persuasive panellists and their engaged audiences.
The Liberal Democrats kicked off the season with an upbeat conference in Brighton. A party with a proudly internationalist stance, its former spokesperson on Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Layla Moran, told the conference that every one of its MPs is an advocate for international development. We were fortunate its current spokesperson on international development, Monica Harding MP for Esher and Walton, was a panellist at our event
Tackling the deadly cycle of conflict and malnutrition was chaired by UAMH CEO Jonny Oates and presented in partnership with Action Against Hunger and MAG (Mines Advisory Group). Conflict is one of the main drivers of hunger. Where extreme hunger and child deaths fester, so does anger, instability, and violence which makes the issue of huge geopolitical significance.
Monica and Jonny were joined by Giulia Conto, Conflict and Hunger Advocacy Manager at Action Against Hunger, and Najat El Hamri, the Middle East Regional Director for MAG. All made informative contributions to the discussion and committed to continuing to press for political action to deal with the devastating impact of conflict on food security.
The plight of the most vulnerable people was a core theme. Women and girls are worst affected by food crises because they typically eat last and least. Children in conflict zones are twice as likely to be malnourished compared to those in stable areas.
MUAC bands (mid-upper arm circumference bands) are a simple but highly effective diagnostic tool used worldwide by health professionals. The traffic-light colour-coded bands quickly identify infants aged six months to five years, suffering from malnutrition and in need of urgent life-saving treatment.
The band’s circumference in the red zone is the size of a bottle top, indicating severe acute malnutrition. While the yellow zone revealing moderate acute malnutrition is only a fraction bigger.
Monica Harding spoke of how her visit to Kenya with UAMH and UNICEF earlier this year had inspired her to become a committed global nutrition champion, especially the poignancy of the MUAC bands.
“I cannot tell you the huge impact seeing the tiny size of that band had on my children when I took one home to show them,” Monica says, who now takes the bands to Parliament so colleagues can see them too.
“Access to good nutrition is foundational. The conversations I had with people in Kenya were inspiring and had a deep effect on me. I saw first-hand the positive impact of UK aid in action. The UK’s commitment to international aid is crucial. If children are not well-fed, we will not be able to achieve sustainable development.”
Our event at the Labour Party conference was next. Staged with Action Against Hunger, Partnerships for change: Improving health and nutrition outcomes for women and girls was chaired by UAMH Head of Advocacy Amy Smith, with speakers Mary Kimani, Head of Department of Health and Nutrition, Action Against Hunger Kenya, Abtisam Mohamed MP for Sheffield Central, and Steve Race MP for Exeter.
The atmosphere at the conference was optimistic, reflected by our panellists who were all cognisant of intolerable gender inequality in global nutrition and determined to harness the opportunity of government to advance action to solve it.
Abtisam Mohamed said she was proud to have the Institute for Sustainable Food in her constituency. Part of the University of Sheffield, it is pioneering innovation to progress global food security.
Steve Race, also a delegate on the cross-party UAMH and UNICEF visit to Kenya, recounted how impressed he had been touring a factory in Nairobi making ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF). The business had been part-funded by UK development assistance and supported Kenya to produce nutrition products to save lives and create jobs.
UAMH would like to thank Action Against Hunger for bringing its colleague Mary Kimani to the conference and our panel. The audience listened attentively as she explained how malnutrition does not just affect a girl’s health but her entire life prospects. A malnourished girl is likely to struggle to learn, be out of school and become a victim of child marriage. Malnutrition triggers an appalling downward spiral for that young person, which extends to the community and country.
Food for empowerment: How can food security unlock the future of women and girls? was the theme of the panel event at the Conservative Party Conference put on with our partner the Coalition for Global Prosperity (CGP) The lively lineup was led by Zoe Swanwick, Researcher at CGP, alongside Dame Harriett Baldwin, Shadow Minister for Development, Kate Munro, Action Against Hunger’s Head of Advocacy, UAMH’s Amy Smith, and Rebecca Smith MP for South West Devon.
All the panellists agreed that the deep injustice in women and girls’ access to nutrition is intolerable and addressing it should be an international development priority. It was a compelling discussion with varied and complementary contributions from all participants. The combination of powerful storytelling ranging from experience in affected countries and personal political motivations held the audience’s attention. It left us even more certain of the need to continue pressuring leaders to act against global malnutrition and in doing so, unlock progress on achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
It has been a busy but entirely worthwhile three-week period, particularly for Amy Smith who led UAMH’s activity at the conferences.
“Our informative and well-received events at each conference demonstrate that there are committed MPs from different political perspectives all determined that nutrition should be an international development priority for the UK, she said.
“We are grateful to our panellists, each one a powerful advocate for the need to tackle global malnutrition and hunger. We look forward to continuing to collaborate with them to champion the issue in Parliament and beyond.”
