New fund targeting to promote children’s nutrition launched

NAIROBI: The Power of Nutrition, a new independent fund launched Thursday, hopes to help millions of children reach their full potential.

Backed by leading organisations from private philanthropy and international development, the partnership aims to unlock one billion dollars to tackle child undernutrition in some of the world’s poorest countries.

The Power of Nutrition will save lives and help millions of children escape from the effects of malnutrition. It will help countries build healthy and prosperous communities. It launches with arrangements in place to unlock the first $200 million from high profile backers such as the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, UBS Optimus Foundation, the UK’s Department for International Development, UNICEF, and the World Bank Group. It opens to new private and public investors today.

Unlocking children’s potential

Without the right nutrients, health services and care within the first 1,000 days of life, a child’s brain and body fail to develop properly. Unlike hunger, these effects are largely invisible and essentially irreversible. Undernutrition is the underlying cause of 45 per cent of all under five mortality – or nearly three million deaths every year. Undernutrition leaves nearly four in ten children in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia with underdeveloped brains and bodies. As a result, these children have lower IQs and are more likely to drop out of school. As adults, they are a third less likely to escape poverty.

The problem does not stop there. As undernourished girls grow into undernourished mothers, who give birth to undernourished children. This creates a vicious cycle that holds back the growth of future generations.

Money raised by the Power of Nutrition will finance large-scale, high-impact nutrition programmes to help break this cycle. Evidence shows that with the right nutrients and care early on in life, a child’s brain and body are able to develop to their full potential, improving their health, education and future livelihoods. It is an investment in children, families and communities that lasts and lasts.

Multiplying funds for nutrition

For the first time, a combination of private and public finances will support country-led programmes that target child undernutrition at scale. The Power of Nutrition will act as a catalyst to multiply the financial resources going into this area, through a combination of grants, government funding and International Development Association (IDA) financing,

The fund has developed an innovative matching offer that guarantees that every dollar in private funding is multiplied up to six times with new financing secured from other funders. Governments seeking financial support for their national nutrition programmes will also be able to multiply their resources through the fund.

The Power of Nutrition opens to new private and public investors today. It launches with arrangements in place to unlock the first $200m of financing.

Contributions include $55m from the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, up to £32m ($47m) from the UK Department of International Development, and up to Swiss Francs 25m ($26m) from the UBS Optimus Foundation.

These resources will be channelled through a new World Bank Group (WBG) trust fund for nutrition and through a UNICEF matched-funding mechanism. The new WBG trust fund of at least $55m will leverage at least another $100m from the IDA, the WBG’s fund for the poorest. The new agreement with UNICEF provides an opportunity for donors to fund UNICEF through a matched-funding mechanism dedicated to ending child nutrition.

“Good nutrition is an essential part of a healthy life. Yet every day, millions of children die, are sick, or are disadvantaged because they are not receiving the right nutrition and care at the right time. Investors in The Power of Nutrition can change that, so good nutrition becomes the new normal,” said Michael Anderson, Chief Executive Officer at the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation.

“We are very proud to be a founding partner of The Power of Nutrition. This groundbreaking new fund will help many more children reach their full potential by ensuring they get the right nutrients early in life. It's an investment in children, families and communities that will last," said Phyllis Costanza, Chief Executive Officer at the UBS Optimus Foundation.

“We believe that undernutrition is one of the world’s most serious but least addressed public health challenges” said Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer, World Bank.  “Children who escape undernutrition are 33% more likely to escape poverty as adults. Countries in Africa and Asia are losing up to 11% of their GDP to undernutrition. We want children and countries to reach their full potential. This is why we are tracking stunting as a predictor of development and see initiatives like The Power of Nutrition as key to achieving our goal of ending extreme poverty.”

“Five years ago, few outside the health community knew much about stunting. Today, there is growing recognition of the impact undernutrition has on children’s lives and thus the future of the societies in which they live,” said UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake and Chair of the Scaling up Nutrition (SUN) Movement Working Group. “The Power of Nutrition will help fuel the growing global movement to give more children the healthy start they need.”