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World leaders have today signed a global agreement that will prevent millions of infant deaths, and boost the life chances of millions more, by equipping the developing world with the means to beat malnutrition.

See also

• Background: UK hosts high-level meeting on global nutrition and growth
• Speech: Prime Minister - 鈥淭here are still 1 billion people going hungry鈥�
• Find out how the UK is working to reduce hunger and undernutrition

Prime Minister David Cameron, Brazilian Vice President Michel Temer and the Children鈥檚 Investment Fund Foundation president led a high level summit in London of developing and developed nations, businesses, scientific and civil society groups, committing them to supporting a historic reduction in 鈥渦ndernutrition鈥�.

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Undernutrition is a chronic lack of nutrients that can result in death, stunted physical development and in a lower resistance to illnesses in later life. It is the biggest underlying cause of death in under-five-year-olds in the world and is responsible for 8,000 child deaths each day. It stunts the growth of children, reducing their potential, undermining their adult earnings by up to 10%, and in some countries reducing the size of the economy by 11% as a result.

The participants - who signed a Global Nutrition for Growth Compact - committed their countries and organisations by 2020 to:

• improving the nutrition of 500 million pregnant women and young children
• reducing the number of children under five who are stunted by an additional 20 million
• saving the lives of at least 1.7 million children by preventing stunting, increasing breastfeeding and better treatment of severe and acute malnutrition

Among the participants in today鈥檚 central London summit were two presidents and four prime ministers from Africa, Irish Taoiseach , philanthropist , former UN Secretary General and Unilever chief executive .

Donors have today secured new commitments of up to 拢2.7 billion ($4.15 billion) to tackle undernutrition up to 2020, 拢1.9 billion ($2.9 billion) of which is core funding with the remainder secured through matched funding. The UK has today committed an additional 拢375 million of core funding and 拢280 million of matched funding from 2013 to 2020.

Countries which have previously increased nutrition funding, like the US and Canada, today committed themselves to continuing those high levels of funding while others, like the , the and , have increased their support substantially.

The funds will focus on:

• making world-class scientific knowledge and evidence available, including through a new Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition, so that farmers can grow nutrition-rich and resilient crops, such as vitamin-enriched sweet potato and corn, to feed their families and local areas
• promoting breastfeeding as a priority for protecting nutrition and saving lives
• supporting the governments of developing countries to formulate high quality national nutrition plans and helping them to mobilise domestic resources for them and
• ensuring businesses in developing countries place good nutrition at the heart of their workforce welfare priorities.

International Development Secretary Justine Greening said:

Undernutrition is stopping children and countries from reaching their full potential, accounting for the loss of billions of dollars in productivity. A strong and healthy workforce is vital if a country鈥檚 economy is to prosper. This means business and science taking a lead in fighting for good nutrition because we understand that better nutrition is the smart way to tackle extreme poverty, child mortality and economic underachievement.

The commitments secured today will help transform the life chances of millions of children and pregnant women by ensuring they get the right nutrition at the right time, securing greater long-term economic growth and prosperity for all.

President and CEO of the Children鈥檚 Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) said:

We have a unique window of opportunity now to marshal the global coalescence around the nutrition agenda and to tackle the root cause of child mortality and economic underachievement. With renewed commitment from all of us in recognition of the centrality of nutrition to economic growth and development we will be making one of the most important contributions to the growth and economic development of some of the poorest countries in the world.

Today marks the start of a sustained financial and political commitment to ending undernutrition within a generation. Working together, this unique coalition can take action which history will judge as having contributed to saving the lives of millions of women and children and setting nations on a strong economic path to prosperity.

Undernutrition is an underlying cause in 45% of deaths amongst children under five, while nearly 165 million suffer from stunting which stops children鈥檚 bodies from developing properly. The effects of undernutrition have the greatest impact in the first 1,000 days of life from conception to a child鈥檚 second birthday. Failure to get the right nutrition at this critical time causes irreversible lifelong damage.

Nutrition for Growth builds on the process started at last year鈥檚 Hunger Summit held by the UK and Brazilian Governments in London, which highlighted the devastating consequences of undernutrition on children.

The recently agreed a new global target of a 40% reduction in the number of stunted children by 2025. The commitments secured today will transform progress towards this goal. Commitments made today will be monitored and tracked annually, and progress made in addressing undernutrition will be measured at a global event in Brazil at the Rio 2016 Olympics.

Related government links

• News: UK hosts high-level meeting on global nutrition and growth
• Press release: Nigeria, Benin and Malawi join New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition
• Find out how the UK is working to reduce hunger and undernutrition

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