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Public health and safety

New $1B global fund targets child nutrition

Donna Leinwand Leger
USA TODAY
A Somali child looks up at doctors surrounding him after he was admitted into a local hospital suffering from severe diarrhea in this 2011 photo from a country ravaged by famine, war and drought.

WASHINGTON — Private investors from UBS and the Children's Investment Fund Foundation have teamed with UNICEF and other international development agencies to bankroll a $1 billion independent fund to tackle problems with childhood and maternal nutrition in some of the world's poorest countries.

The fund, called The Power of Nutrition, will leverage $55 million from the Children's Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), $47 million from Britain's Department for International Development and $26 million from the UBS Optimus Foundation with matching funds from UNICEF and the World Bank Group. The fund's matching offer guarantees every $1 in private funding will be multiplied up to six times with the matching funds, including at least $55 million from a new World Bank Group trust fund and another $100 million from the bank's International Development Association trust for the world's poorest, CIFF CEO Michael Anderson said.

The first $200 million is available now, the backers announced Thursday during a panel at the World Bank.

The fund will pump money into nutrition programs that focus on the first 1,000 days of life, from maternal nutrition at conception to a child's nutrition before he or she reaches school age.

"We know that good nutrition has one of the biggest multiplier effects for development," Anderson said. "Well-nourished kids grow up to be higher wage earners."

UNICEF estimates that 161 million children have stunted development because of poor nutrition, UNICEF Executive Director Tony Lake said. In a country with widespread undernutrition, that adds up to a drag on development, he said.

"It's a huge opportunity because progress is very possible," Lake said.

Tanzania has reduced undernutrition and "stunting" 2% to 3% a year. Tanzanian Finance Minister Saada Mkuya Salum said the program, though currently underfunded by 75%, has support at all levels of the government from village leadership to Tanzania's prime minister.

"There is a political commitment," she said. "We are also striving to ensure that domestic resources will invest in nutrition."

A child's development during the first 1,000 days are critical to that child's intellect, future health and ability to earn a living and contribute to a country's development, Sri Mulyani Indrawati, managing director and chief operating officer, World Bank Group said.

Insufficient nutrition, called undernutrition, underlies 45% of all child deaths under the age of 5 -- accounting for about 3 million deaths a year, she said. In Africa and South Asia, nearly 4 in 10 children suffer from poor nutrition, leaving them with underdeveloped brains and bodies, she said.

"Lack of micronutrients like iodine and Vitamin A particularly for children has devastating consequences with damages that are irreversible," Indrawati said. "Children who are iodine deficient lose up to 13 IQ points, and stay at least one year less in school."

Children who are properly nourished are 33% more likely to escape poverty as adults, Indrawati said.

Indrawati called undernutrition one of the world's "most serious but least addressed" public health problem.

"We know how to address this," Indrawati said. "Getting children the right nutrients at the right time can save 3 million lives and make sure that children keep up in school and become productive adults."

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