Embargo 11 am Monday March 20 2000

CALL FOR ACTION TO SAVE ONE BILLION CHILDREN FROM MALNUTRITION

A much sharper focus on malnutrition is needed by the United Nations, governments, NGOs and other agencies to avoid the health of one billion children being permanently damaged over the next 20 years, a new report warns today.

The independent report - Ending Malnutrition by 2020: an Agenda for Change in the Millennium - comes from the Commission on the Nutrition Challenges of the 21st Century, which says the persistence of malnutrition in a world of plenty is "immoral". Existing efforts are failing to tackle the problem sufficiently adds the Commission, which proposes major new initiatives to speed up the aid process to eradicate malnutrition among pre-school children within two decades.

About one in four new born children in developing countries - around 30 million each year - suffer retarded growth in the womb, an indication how the nutrition well-being of mothers in pregnancy remains one of the most neglected areas in world health. The Commission Report warns that at present rates of progress, about one billion stunted children will grow up with impaired mental development by 2020.

"This is entirely preventable. Urgent action is needed to save these children from suffering an unnecessary blight on their future," said Prof Philip James, the Commission chairman, speaking at a press conference to launch the report at the Overseas Development Institute in London today (Monday March 20).

Key recommendations from the Commission include:

The Commission highlights growing evidence of the "double-burden" of disease where early undernutrition leads, on later weight gain, to a virulent form of obesity, which later in life causes millions in the developing world to develop diabetes, heart disease and some cancers. This lifetime legacy stems from children "programmed in the womb" to be especially vulnerable to these diseases as developing countries adopt western lifestyles and consumption patterns.

Set up by the UN three years ago, the Commission proposes a new key role for the UN in mobilizing nutrition action worldwide, the creation of new national nutrition councils around the world to spearhead the introduction of new coherent plans for the development of food and health policies, and improved cooperation between related UN agencies. It also wants governments in the West to make the elimination of malnutrition a sharper focus of international aid as a key step to eliminating poverty.

"All the best predictions show that current approaches are not going to work. We are calling for a much stronger approach to make sure the UN supports nutrition in a coherent way at country level," added Prof James.

The report says the UN needs a "global nutrient strategy" to refocus priorities on diversifying crops and reviving consumption of the traditional wide range of cereals, vegetables and fruits. The UN should also find better ways to maintain global food stocks to cope with future food crises.

There is no one model for governments to follow and highlights successful approaches taken in Thailand, Costa Rica and Kerala in India to tackle the problem. "The experience from Thailand shows what can be achieved with the benefit of political, social and organizational commitment. With greater efforts from governments and the UN, eliminating undernutrition in preschool children may be possible by 2020," said Prof James.

Welcoming the the report, Dr Richard Jolly, chairman of the United Nation's ACC Sub Committee on Nutrition, said:"This state of the art report shows that in spite of progress in some regions and some areas of action, global malnutrition is being reduced too slowly to meet the goals of the 1990s. This message of challenge is combined with an agenda of hope. Building on positive pioneering examples, mass malnutrition could be ended. The report shows where and how countries and the international agencies can begin."

[Ends]

For further information please contact:

Neville Rigby on +44 (0) 20 7691 1900 or 07939 250347

A full copy of the report will be available for collection at a press conference to launch the report at the Overseas Development Institute, Stag Place, London SW1 on Monday March 20 at 11 am. A version will also be available to download from the Internet on: www.iotf.org/php - not for publication before 11 am March 20 2000.

Note to editors:

The United Nation's Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC) set up the Sub-Committee on Nutrition (SCN) in 1977. The ACC/SCN is the focal point for harmonising the policies and activities on nutrition of the UN system. The SCN serves as a coordinating mechanism for exchange of information and technical guidance, and to act dynamically to help the UN respond to nutritional problems. It established the Commission on the Nutrition Challenges of the 21st Century under the chairmanship of Prof James in 1997.

Commission members:

Philip James
Director, Public Health Policy Group/Chairman International Obesity TaskForce (former director of the Rowett Research Institute, Aberdeen)
231 North Gower St,
London NW1 2NS
Phone: +44 20 76911900
Fax: +44 20 73876033
Email: jeanhjames@aol.com

Suttilak Smitasiri
Head, Division of Communication and Behavioural Science
Institute of Nutrition at Mahidol University
Salaya, Phutthamonthon
Nakhon Pathom 73170, Thailand
phone: +662 441 0218
fax: +662 441 9344
email: nussm@mahidol.ac.th

Julia Tagwireyi
Director, Nutrition Department
Ministry of Health
PO Box 8204, Causeway
Harare, Zimbabwe
phone: +2634 792454
fax: +2634 791169
 

Kaare R. Norum
Rector (President)
University of Oslo
PO Box 1072, Blindern
N-0316 Oslo, Norway
phone: +47 22 85 6303
fax: +47 22 85 4442
email: k.r.norum@basalmed.uio.no

Ricardo Uauy
Director and Professor, Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology (INTA)
University of Chile
Casilla 138-11, Santiago, Chile
phone: +56 2 221 4105
fax: +56 2 221 4030
email: uauy@abello.dic.uchile.cl or
uauy@abello.seci.uchile.cl

M.S. Swaminathan
Chairman, M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation
Third Cross Street
Taramani Institutional Area
Chennal 600113, India
phone: +91 44 235 1229/1698
fax: +91 44 235 1319
email: MDSAAA51@giasmd01.vsnl.net.in
mssrf.madras@sm8.sprintrpg.ems.vsnl.net.in

Mahbub ul Haq, President, Human Development Centre, Islamabad, Pakistan, died 16 July 1998, before the report was completed.

The Public Health Policy Group/International Obesity Task Force
231 North Gower Street
London NW1 2NS
Tel +44 (0) 20 7691 1900
Fax +44 (0) 20 7387 6033
www.iotf.org/php
e-mail: php@iotf.org

About Prof Philip James

Prof Philip James CBE is director of the Public Health Policy Group, chairman of the International Obesity TaskForce and former director of the Rowett Research Institute in Aberdeen.

He became chairman of the Commission on the Nutrition Challenges of the 21st Century in 1997.

Other responsibilities include advising the European Union on public health policies relating to food. In September 1997 he became chairman an EU Emergency BSE subgroup to specify risk materials and is a member of the EU's BSE advisory group.

He was the prime author with Prof. G. Pascal and Prof. F. Kemper of proposals in 1999 for an E.U. Food and Drug Administration and in 1997 drew up the first proposals for the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA).