- World Vision will commit $US500 million ($661million) of private funding to tackle malnutrition over the next five years and will also allocate an additional $US700m ($926 million) in nutrition grant-funded programmes
- The aid agency's investment will mean that more than one million children will avoid malnutrition
World Vision has committed $661 million to fight malnutrition and told global nutrition leaders that eliminating malnutrition – especially for women and girls – is a top priority for the organisation.
World Vision International's President and Chief Executive Officer Andrew Morley announced the initiative as part of the Nutrition 4 Growth Year of Action launch hosted by the governments of Canada and Bangladesh, attended by and featuring key aid sector leaders such as Henrietta H. Fore, Executive Director of UNICEF, and Melinda Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
"As a child-focused organisation, World Vision refuses to accept the current status quo of child malnutrition globally," Mr Morley said. "Good nutrition is an essential foundation for health and development, yet malnutrition is still the single-biggest contributor to under-five child mortality. World Vision is determined to work towards a future in which children dying of malnutrition is a thing of the past. If we join together, we will succeed. This, I promise you.
"We know from bitter experience in 100 countries that malnutrition steals so many young children's lives, and diminishes lifelong potential for hundreds of millions more, with a disproportionate impact on girls. We can and must to more to ensure children achieve their God-given potential."
Women and girls are most affected by poor nutrition globally, "empowering them is a game-changing solution for eliminating malnutrition," he added.
Other commitments made by the organisation included:
"We know from bitter experience in 100 countries that malnutrition steals so many young children's lives, and diminishes lifelong potential for hundreds of millions more, with a disproportionate impact on girls. We can and must to more to ensure children achieve their God-given potential."
Women and girls are most affected by poor nutrition globally, "empowering them is a game-changing solution for eliminating malnutrition," he added.
Other commitments made by the organisation included:
- Treating 500,000 children for malnutrition
- Reaching 200,000 people with programmes that equip caregivers to prepare locally sourced nutritious food
- Providing supplementary feeding for 250,000 pregnant and breastfeeding mothers
- Leveraging 184,000 World Vision-supported community health workers to reach the most vulnerable households with nutrition counselling
Mr Morley stressed he was particularly proud that World Vision's nutrition programmes would be addressing the interconnections between nutrition, gender equality, women's empowerment and child well-being by continuing to develop, scale up and promote the Gender-Transformative Framework for Nutrition.
