The Nutrition for Growth Year of Action is a year-long effort to continue the momentum to tackle malnutrition in the lead up to the Nutrition for Growth Summit in Japan in late 2021. The Year of Action provides a historic opportunity to transform the way the world tackles the global challenge of malnutrition.
The nutrition Year of Action launch event took place December 14, 2020. The event, hosted by the Governments of Canada and Bangladesh, in partnership with the Government of Japan, was designed to address the global hunger and nutrition crisis that has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The event featured more than US $3 billion in financing commitments or re-commitments from a range of governments including Canada, Bangladesh, Japan, Guatemala, Nigeria, Pakistan and Senegal. Additional leaders spoke from the United Kingdom, the United States, UNICEF, The World Bank, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, World Vision, Nutrition International, the U.N. Food Systems Summit, the Micronutrient Forum, Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition and Concern Worldwide. Resources from the launch event are below:
- Opening video
- Press release
- Commitments announced at the December 2020 launch event
- Full event video
- Melinda Gates remarks
Additionally, new data was released from the Standing Together for Nutrition consortium that predicts massive consequences for maternal and child nutrition as a direct result of the pandemic. Over the next two years, an additional 168,000 child deaths will occur, 9.3 million children will be wasted, 2.6 million children will be stunted, and 2.1 million women will be anemic unless immediate and significant global action is taken. The costs of future productivity loss due to increases in child stunting and mortality from the effects of COVID-19 on child nutrition is estimated to be US$29.7 billion.
Throughout the 2021 #NutritionYearOfAction, events like this will inspire other donor institutions, partner governments, multilateral organizations, and the private sector to step up and recommit to nutrition as we head into the final decade of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Additional resources are available, including a step-by-step approach to make a commitment.