Tracking Progress on Child and Maternal Nutrition - Unicef

In many countries, nutrition has no clear institutional home;
it is often addressed in part by various ministries or departments,
an arrangement that can hinder effective planning
and management of programmes.
In some of the countries with the highest levels of
undernutrition, governments are faced with multiple
challenges – poverty, economic crisis, confl ict, disaster,
inequity – all of them urgent, and all of them competing
for attention. Undernutrition often does not feature prominently
among these problems, unless it becomes very
severe and widespread.
Some leaders may not consider nutrition to be politically
expedient because it requires investment over the long
term and the results are not always immediately visible.
Furthermore, the interests of donor agencies – with
limited budgetary allocations for aid in general – are
often focused elsewhere.
In the past, nutrition strategies were not always effective
and comprehensive, programmes were insuffi cient in scale
and human resources were woefully inadequate, partly due
to insuffi cient coordination and collaboration between
international institutions and agencies working in nutrition.
But cost-effective programming strategies and interventions
that can make a signifi cant difference in the health
and lives of children and women are available today. These
interventions urgently require scaling up, a task that will
entail the collective planning and resources of developing
country governments at all levels and of the international
development community as a whole.
Undernutrition can be greatly reduced through the delivery
of simple interventions at key stages of the life cycle – for
the mother, before she becomes pregnant, during pregnancy
and while breastfeeding; for the child, in infancy and
early childhood. Effectively scaled up, these interventions
will improve maternal nutrition, increase the proportion
of infants who are exclusively breastfed up to 6 months
of age, improve continued breastfeeding rates, enhance
complementary feeding and micronutrient intake of
children between 6 and 24 months old, and reduce the
severity of infectious diseases and child mortality.
Undernutrition is a violation of child rights. The Convention
on the Rights of the Child emphasizes children’s right to the
highest attainable standard of health and places
12 <strong>Tracking</strong> <strong>Progress</strong> on Child and Maternal Nutrition
responsibility on the State to combat malnutrition. It also
requires that nutritious food is provided to children and that
all segments of society are supported in the use of basic
knowledge of child nutrition (article 24). Nutrition must be
placed high on national and international agendas if this
right is to be fulfi lled.
2. THE IMPORTANCE
OF NUTRITION
Consequences of undernutrition and
the impact of nutrition interventions
on child survival
Children who are undernourished, not optimally breastfed
or suffering from micronutrient defi ciencies have substantially
lower chances of survival than children who are well
nourished. They are much more likely to suffer from a
serious infection and to die from common childhood
illnesses such as diarrhoea, measles, pneumonia and
malaria, as well as HIV and AIDS. 1
According to the most recent estimates, maternal and
child undernutrition contributes to more than one third of
child deaths. 2 Undernourished children who survive may
become locked in a cycle of recurring illness and faltering
growth, with irreversible damage to their development and
cognitive abilities. 3
Causes of mortality in children
under 5 years old (2004)
Other
13%
HIV/AIDS
2%
Injuries
4%
Measles
4%
Malaria
7%
Diarrhoea
16%
Globally,
undernutrition
contributes to more
than one third of
child deaths
Source: World Health Organization, 2008.
Neonatal
37%
Acute respiratory
infections
17%