SCN News No 36 - UNSCN

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UNITED NATIONS SYSTEM STANDING COMMITTEE ON NUTRITION The Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC), which was comprised of the heads of the UN Agencies, recommended the establishment of the Sub-Committee on Nutrition in 1976, following the World Food Conference and with particular reference to Resolution V on food and nutrition. This was approved by the Economic and Social Council of the UN (ECOSOC) by resolution in July 1977. Following the reform of the ACC in 2001, the ACC/SCN was renamed the United Nations System Standing Committee on Nutrition or simply “the SCN”. The SCN reports to the Chief Executives Board of the UN, the successor of the ACC. The UN members of the SCN are ECA, FAO, IAEA, IFAD, ILO, UN, UNAIDS, UNDP, UNEP, UNESCO, UNFPA, UNHCHR, UNHCR, UNICEF, UNRISD, UNU, WFP, WHO and the World Bank. IFPRI and the ADB are also members. From the outset, representatives of bilateral donor agencies have participated actively in SCN activities as do nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). The SCN Secretariat is hosted by WHO in Geneva. The mandate of the SCN is to serve as the UN focal point for promoting harmonized nutrition policies and strategies throughout the UN system, and to strengthen collaboration with other partners for accelerated and more effective action against malnutrition. The aim of the SCN is to raise awareness of and concern for nutrition problems at global, regional and national levels; to refine the direction, increase the scale and strengthen the coherence and impact of actions against malnutrition worldwide; and to promote cooperation among UN agencies and partner organizations. The SCN’s annual meetings have representation from UN agencies, donor agencies and NGOs; these meetings begin with symposia on subjects of current importance for policy. The SCN brings such matters to the attention of the UN Secretary General and convenes working groups on specialized areas of nutrition. Initiatives are taken to promote coordinated activities— interagency programmes, meetings, publications—aimed at reducing malnutrition, reflecting the shared views of the agencies concerned. Regular reports on the world nutrition situation are issued. Nutrition Policy Papers are produced to summarize current knowledge on selected topics. SCN News is published twice a year, and the NICS (formerly RNIS) is published quarterly. As decided by the SCN, initiatives are taken to promote coordinated activities—interagency programmes, meetings, publications aimed at reducing malnutrition, primarily in developing countries. Ann Veneman Chair Roger Shrimpton Secretary UN SCN c/o World Health Organization 20 Avenue Appia, CH 1211 Geneva 27 Switzerland Telephone: +41-22 791 04 56 Fax: +41-22 798 88 91 scn@who.int www.unsystem.org/scn In preparing this issue of the SCN News, we gratefully acknowledge funding assistance from
www.unsystem.org/scn ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENT S1 Update on REACH – Ending Child Hunger and Undernutrition Denise Costa Coitinho on behalf of the Inter-Agency Team hosted by WFP Nutrition is a desperately neglected aspect of maternal, newborn, and child health. The medical journal The Lancet in its new maternal and child undernutrition series (Maternal and Child Undernutrition Study Group 2008), finds that 90% of the world’s undernourished children live in just 36 countries, and intensified nutrition action in these countries would greatly contribute to the achievement of the first Millennium Development Goal (MDG1) and substantially increase the chances of achieving goals for reducing child and maternal mortality and disease (MDGs 4, 5 and 6). UNICEF (2007) found that 51 developing countries are making insufficient progress towards MDG1’s ‘hunger target’, as measured by the prevalence of underweight among under-fives. Eighteen of these were making no progress at all or were going backwards. To accelerate countries’ progress on MDG-1, Target 2 (halve the proportion of underweight under-fives), the global community has realised that there is an urgent need for renewed efforts against child hunger, as a priority in the identified 36 countries. Such a renewed effort requires government-led, solution-focused partnerships among the UN, civil society and private sectors. What is also needed is a redirection of funds and attention to support the delivery of proven nutrition interventions at scale. There is a need for seamless nutrition support between children under five and those of school age. A coherent joint response from the UN and partners in support of national governments is urgently required to move these efforts forward. To fulfil this perceived need, WFP, UNICEF and partners, have been developing the Ending Child Hunger and Undernutrition Initiative (ECHUI) since 2006. ECHUI was first presented to the SCN during its 34 th session, in Rome. The SCN welcomed ECHUI, endorsed its goals, and recommended that it be a broad-based partnership with close links to the SCN. A series of concrete recommendations were made with various offers of technical or managerial support to further strengthen ECHUI: 1. The SCN should provide an advisory role to ECHUI; 2. ECHUI should build on existing SCN structures (Working Groups and Task Forces); 3. The SCN and ECHUI Secretariats should be closely articulated; and, 4. ECHUI should report on progress at the SCN Annual Sessions. The progress report to the 35th session of the SCN aimed at meeting the fourth recommendation. In July 2007, ECHUI was approved by WFP and UNICEF Executive Boards. The two organizations were requested to continue developing ECHUI including further refining of the workplan, developing the Partners Group, and preparing the ground for the Secretariat. In the same month, ECHUI preliminary studies in Mauritania and Niger were concluded and by the end of 2007 the WHO-led Landscape Analysis on Countries' Readiness to Accelerate Action in Nutrition was initiated (WHO 2008). In November 2007, the WHO Director-General Dr Margaret Chan joined the effort and seconded a staff member to Rome. The Inter- Agency Team was then established in Rome, hosted by WFP. Following these good developments, the FAO Director-General Dr Jacques Diouf joined the effort as the fourth core partner, in January 2008. In February 2008, the Lancet series on maternal and child undernutrition was launched and ECHUI-promoted interventions accordingly revised and organized into “big five” priority action areas, to achieve four agreed outcomes: 1. increased awareness and understanding of the problem of hunger and undernutrition, and of known solutions; 2. supported national policy and programme development; 3. increased capacity for action at all levels; and, 4. increased monitoring, efficiency and accountability of global efforts More focus and a roll-out plan that brings together on-going initiatives was then proposed by the Inter-Agency Team. The new brand ‘REACH: ending child hunger and undernutrition’ was also proposed. Progress to date is presented now to the SCN for further advise. back to contents SCN NEWS # 36
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