One billion children will be permanently handicapped by malnutrition between now and 2020 unless the United Nations, donors, and national governments start to act, warns a report published this week.
The report, commissioned by the United Nations, strongly criticises international agencies and others for failing to curb a major avoidable problem.
Worldwide more than 150 million children of preschool age are underweight and 200 million children have stunted growth. One in 4 babies born in developing countries have intrauterine growth retardation and are at risk of mental impairment, the report says.
“The current approach for coping with the world malnutrition problem completely misses the point with the assumption that poverty reduction is the way to go,” said Professor Philip James, chairman of the Commission on Nutrition Challenges of the 21st Century, which produced the report.
Instead, said Professor James, more sharply focused and coordinated action by governments and international agencies could, with modest investment, end malnutrition in preschool children by 2020.
The commission's sharpest criticism is reserved for the United Nations' own agencies, such as the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health Organization.
“The Commission is aware of a number of uncoordinated approaches by different agencies. These often seem to be based on institutional rivalry and different disciplinary and sectoral approaches rather than on collaboration and the development of a cohesive effort,” says the report.
Ending Malnutrition by 2020: An Agenda for Change in the Millennium. Summary and full report are both available at www.iotf.org/php/.