Nutrition in the First 1,000 Days - Save the Children

12 Why Focus oN the First 1,000 Days?
eConomiC gRowth and FUtURe sUCCess
Investments in improving nutrition for mothers and children in the first
1,000 days will yield real payoffs both in lives saved and in healthier, more
stable and productive populations. In addition to its negative, often fatal, health
consequences, malnutrition means children achieve less at school and their
productivity and health in adult life is affected, which has dire financial consequences
for entire countries.
Children whose physical and mental development are stunted by malnutrition
will earn less on average as adults. One study suggested the loss of human
potential resulting from stunting was associated with 20 percent less adult
income on average.4 Malnutrition costs many developing nations an estimated
2-3 percent of their GDP each year, extends the cycle of poverty, and impedes
global economic growth.5 Globally, the direct cost of child malnutrition is
estimated at $20 to $30 billion per year.6
In contrast, well-nourished children perform better in school and grow up
to earn considerably more on average than those who were malnourished as
children. Recent evidence suggests nutritional interventions can increase adult
earnings by as much as 46 percent.7
An estimated 450 million children will be affected by stunting in the next
15 years if current trends continue.8 This is bad news for the economies of
developing nations, and for a global economy that is increasingly dependent
on new markets to drive economic growth.
Malawi