Nutrition has slipped through the gap

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Public release date: 16-Jan-2008

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-01/l-nhs011108.php

Contact: Lancet Press Office

pressoffice@...

44-9

Lancet

Nutrition has slipped through the gap

Nutrition is a desperately neglected aspect of maternal, newborn, and

child health. The reasons for this neglect are understandable but not

justifiable. In his Comment which opens The Lancet's Series on Maternal

and Child Undernutrition, The Lancet Editor Dr Horton draws

together the themes of the series, and calls on agencies, donors and

political leaders to step up to this very serious challenge.

He says: “Undernutrition is the largely preventable cause of over a

third – 3.5 million – of all child deaths. Stunting, severe wasting and

intrauterine growth restriction are among the most important problems.

There is a golden interval for intervention: from pregnancy to 2 years

of age. After age 2 years, undernutrition will have caused irreversible

damage for future development towards adulthood.”

Dr Horton refers to the statistic that four-fifths of undernourished

children live in just 20 countries across four regions, and highlights

the countries in most immediate need of action – including Burma,

Uganda, India, China and South Africa. He discusses various proven

interventions in the battle against undernutrition, including

breastfeeding counselling, vitamin A supplementation, and zinc

fortification. However, he adds: “These interventions need additional

programmatic experience about how to achieve full coverage.”

Whilst stating there is no magic technological bullet to solve the

problem of undernutrition, Dr Horton calls for long-term investments in

the role of women as full and equal citizens – through education,

economic, social, and political empowerment. He says this will be the

only way to deliver sustainable improvements in maternal and child

nutrition, and the health of women and children more generally.

Dr Horton says that the compelling logic of the scientific evidence

presented in The Series is that governments need national plans to

scale-up nutrition interventions, systems to monitor and evaluate those

plans, and laws and policies to enhance the rights and status of women

and children. He says: “Although complex and frought with political

disagreement, none of these solutions are separable from global treaties

and negotiations over trade, agriculture, and poverty reduction.”

In his closing remarks, Dr Horton says: “This latest Lancet Series

concludes, not surprisingly perhaps, that the international nutrition

system is broken. Leadership is absent, resources are too few, capacity

is fragile, and emergency response systems are urgently needed. An

agency, donor, or political leader needs to step up to this challenge.

There is a fabulous opportunity right now for someone to do so. But who " ”

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Notes to editors: Two other comments accompany the Series and are

available on request from the Press Office.

The paper associated with this release can be viewed at

http://www.eurekalert.org/jrnls/lance/UndernutritionComment.pdf.

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ne Holden, MS, RD < fivestar@... >

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