Читать книгу The Road to Good Nutrition - Группа авторов - Страница 104

Both dietary diversity, which determines nutrient intake, and disease, which affects nutrient utilization and nutrient needs, and also food intake, are strongly linked to poverty. Stunting at the age of two years is therefore a reflection of inequity and also perpetuates this, due to its long-term negative health, economic, and social consequences for the individual, their offspring and the population they live in. Extreme poverty is the most critical problem the world has to cope with.

The first millennium development goal (MDG), which was formulated in 2000, set two indicators for reducing hunger: the number of undernourished people (energy intake not meeting requirements - based on food availability at national level and estimates of the population’s energy needs) and the percentage of underweight children under five. Underweight, or too low weight-for-age, reflects both stunting as well as wasting, which are two different forms of undernutrition, in terms of immediate causes and possible solutions, and are therefore better recognized separately.

Since the 2008 and 2013 Lancet series identified stunting as the most critical indicator for malnutrition and the 65th World Health Assembly in 2012 set 6 global targets for nutrition, including as its first goal a 40 percent reduction of the global number of children under five who are stunted, there is a strong push among many stakeholders to include stunting as a target in the post-2015 development agenda (successor of the MDGs).

Paul Polman makes a heartfelt address to the assembled guests at the Nutrition for Growth conference, held in the Unilever building in central London, June 8, 2013

Soucre: Marisol Grandon/Department for International Development

Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and chairman of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa talks to USAID administrator Dr Raj Shah at the conclusion of the Nutrition for Growth conference in London, 8 June, 2013

Soucre: Marisol Grandon/Department for International Development