2021: Make-or-Break Year to Keep Nutrition Promises to Mothers and Children

Mrs. Graça Machel electrified the audience when she kicked off the Global Nutrition Summit in Milan four years ago. She said that, as a mother and a grandmother, she knows “You can never break a promise to a child …” It was a stark reminder to all of us in that room—decision-makers across government, civil society, the UN, and the private sector—that we must keep our promises to every child and mother in the world for a chance at a healthy, nourished life.

Four years on, keeping our nutrition promises to mothers and children is even more important than ever. Almost half of the deaths of young children are due to undernutrition. The children who do survive malnutrition suffer irreversible cognitive and physical deficits that hold them back for the rest of their lives. Ending all forms of malnutrition by 2030—as we promised in the second Sustainable Development Goal—gives children and mothers a fighting chance at a happy, productive life and allows entire communities and nations to prosper and grow.

The good news is that proven, cost-effective solutions to end malnutrition already exist, like fortifying foods with essential vitamins and nutrients, supporting mothers to breastfeed, treating acute malnutrition, and providing nutrient supplements to mothers and children. However, these proven solutions have not yet been implemented at scale because the nutrition sector remains under-prioritized and under-resourced globally.

In 2013, the inaugural Nutrition for Growth Summit in London, led by the United Kingdom, jump-started increases in funding for nutrition. Around the world, donors invested about $400 million per year in direct nutrition actions prior to the Summit, and their investments now hover around $1.1 billion per year. However, this is still far below projected needs and accounts for less than 1 percent of total donor funding for international development.

Governments, civil society, and private sector partners are also increasing their contributions. While the progress is heartening, it still falls far short of needs, and many previous commitments ended in 2020.

That was before the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted every single system that mothers and children rely on for good nutrition: health, food, social protection, and humanitarian assistance. The Standing Together for Nutrition consortium estimates that in the 2020-2022 period an additional 9.3 million children will suffer the most severe form of malnutrition, wasting, erasing over a decade of progress. Increases in wasting and decreases in nutrition services could result in an additional 168,000 child deaths. The consortium estimates that an additional $1.2 billion per year is necessary to counter these impacts.

Despite these harrowing projections, 2021 is poised to be a year of opportunity. Simply put, projections are not destiny.  We are better equipped to deliver on our nutrition promises than ever before. We have better knowledge of what works, how much it costs, how to take it to scale, and how to measure it. There is a growing pipeline of new solutions, in addition to the proven solutions that stand ready to be scaled.

Governments across the world are stepping up to do more, with 62 having joined the Scaling Up Nutrition movement. In the United States, we have 50 years of bipartisan leadership on nutrition as exemplified by unanimous Senate and House resolutions in 2020 and recent remarks by Congressman Jim McGovern, co-chair of the House Hunger Caucus. The pandemic has pressure-tested food and health systems, and partners on the ground have shown resilience and innovation in finding solutions to deliver even in the face of the pandemic. The pandemic has tested us, but also helped us focus on exactly what needs to be done to build back stronger.

The Nutrition for Growth Year of Action kicked off on December 14, with the Government of Canada committing CAD$520 million over five years, the Government of Bangladesh committing to expand its community-based nutrition services and implement its six-month maternity leave policy, and Melinda Gates calling to “… double or triple ...” investments in nutrition and committing to announce their foundation’s new pledge in 2021. Milestones throughout the year, including the United Nations Food Systems Summit, offer opportunities for every partner to step up and deliver a renewed promise in Tokyo in December 2021.

2021 presents untold opportunities for us all to take action for nutrition. We can reverse the tide of the pandemic's legacy for mothers and children—keeping our promises and ensuring a nutritious, healthy future for a generation of children.