Sub-Saharan Africa is losing slightly above 1.5 million children under the age of five annually due to malnutrition, according to non-governmental organisation Save the Children.
On June 8, thousands of people including Bill Gates gathered in Hyde Park for the Big IF London rally aimed at reversing the situation, estimated to cost two million lives of children under the age of five globally.
The rally, a coalition of over 200 UK organisations, was campaigning for action by G8 leaders to eliminate hunger and save millions of lives.
The campaign wanted the G8 leaders, during their June 18 meeting, to act on four issues that mean so many people do not get enough food.
The issues were enough aid to stop children dying from hunger and help to the poorest families feed themselves and governments to stop big companies from dodging tax in poor countries.
Others were farmers being forced off their land and growing crops to fuel cars as opposed to feeding people, as well as transparency by governments and big companies about their actions that stop people getting enough food.
Speaking to media after the rally, Mr Gates said malnutrition is a huge problem because if a child does not get enough to eat, its chances of dying from disease were 10 times higher.
“In the first two years, if a child doesn’t get enough to eat, the brain is not going to develop as fully as it otherwise could have,” he said.
He added that even if that child survives, the ability to help oneself realise their potential and help their countries lift themselves out of poverty is diminished.
“As we improve feeding, as we get the right nutrition to these kids, they will be more and more self-sufficient,” he said.
According to Enough Food for Everyone: The Need for UK Action on Global Hunger report, published early this year, right now children’s lives around the world are being blighted by malnutrition.
Water and sanitation
By not getting the right nutrition, points out the report, children’s development is irreversibly stunted.
The report says the world knows what works to stop this but like agriculture, the area has been overlooked in recent decades.
According to the report, some of the solutions include health workers promoting exclusive breastfeeding and hand washing, children and pregnant women taking micronutrient supplements; access to clean water and sanitation and schools providing nutritious food.
It is estimated that some countries lose two to three per cent of their potential GDP because of under-nutrition.
According to the UK report, just $10 billion a year could provide a package of measures to improve nutrition that would reach all mothers and children who need help in the 36 countries, mostly from sub-Saharan Africa, that carry 90% of the world’s undernourished children.
Looking at the period of the UK G8 presidency overall, Ms Sol Oyuela, the spokesperson for the Enough Food for Everyone IF campaign, said the drive has helped put tackling hunger and the issues that drive it like malnutrition, tax evasion and land grabs at the centre of the G8 agenda.
“We’ve made real progress, thanks to the millions of people who have supported the campaign, but there remains lots of unfinished business,” she said.
The Nutrition for Growth event, which took place in London on June 8, pledged an additional $6.4 billion to tackle hunger.
Another spokesperson for the campaign Brendan Cox, said the event was the turning point in tackling what is the biggest killer of children worldwide.
“If the promises are delivered, they could save the lives of almost two million children – an historic breakthrough in the fight against hunger. We now need to ensure that donors stump up the cash as quickly as possible, hungry children can’t wait,” he said.
Land grabs
At the 3Ts (Taxes, Trade and Transparency) event on June 15, British Prime Minister David Cameron announced that all Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories were ready to sign the Multilateral Convention on Transparency Matters.
Mr Cameron announced the 3Ts would be priorities during the two-day G8 Summit.
Enough Food for Everyone official Jenny Ricks said Mr Cameron cleared a big obstacle to a clampdown on tax dodging by getting Britain’s Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories to sign up to share information with more countries.
“This will help developing countries access more information and retain more of the money they are owed,” she said.
The campaign drivers said they were pleased that land grabs were firmly put on the G8 agenda for the first time.
“But far more is needed and the G8 needs to show it will really get to grips with the problem by regulating G8-based companies involved in land deals, and leading more ambitious global efforts to tackle land grabs.”
With regard to agriculture, Ms Oyuela said G8 missed an opportunity to boost public investment in the small farmers that feed a third of the world’s population.
“The expansion of the New Alliance is not the answer to decades of declining aid to agriculture. It urgently needs to reform further and faster to ensure it helps small-scale farmers, particularly women and respects land rights.”
NMG
