H.Res. 254 — Introduced in House

IV 113th CONGRESS 1st Session H. RES. 254 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES June 11, 2013 Ms. Wasserman Schultz (for herself and Mr. Diaz-Balart) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs RESOLUTION Recognizing the importance of United States leadership in addressing the challenge of global maternal and child malnutrition. Whereas the United States and other partners contributed to reducing child deaths from 12,000,000 in 1990 to 6,900,000 in 2011, and supported efforts to end preventable child deaths, and pledged to end preventable child deaths within a generation; Whereas food security and nutrition is foundational for human development, and persistent hunger and malnutrition stunts the mental and physical development of the next generation and hinders education, health, economics, and security; Whereas scaling up nutrition interventions can help reduce poverty, improve educational attainment, and improve lifetime earnings, and economic productivity, increasing a country’s gross domestic product (GDP) by as much as 3 percent annually; Whereas leading Nobel Laureate economists have recommended that addressing hunger and malnutrition among young children should be the top priority for policymakers, identifying nutrition as the smartest investment with every $1 invested in nutrition generating as much as $138 in better health and increased productivity; Whereas reducing maternal and child malnutrition, especially in the critical 1,000 days between pregnancy and age 2, is critical to increasing child survival, improving cognitive and physical development, strengthening the immune system to bolster resistance to disease, and breaking the cycle of poverty; Whereas nearly 850,000,000 people are chronically undernourished today, a condition that is responsible, directly or indirectly, for 45 percent of the 6,900,000 deaths among children under the age of 5 annually; Whereas additionally, 11 percent of global disease burden is attributable to maternal and child under-nutrition; Whereas a growing evidence base shows 1 in 4 of the world’s children is stunted and in developing countries this can rise to 1 in 3; Whereas 80 percent of the world’s stunted children live in just 14 countries; Whereas stunting leads to long-term poor health, impaired brain development, and decreased immunity; Whereas 2,000,000,000 people are deficient in key vitamins and minerals, and over 165,000,000 children under the age of 5 are stunted as a result of malnutrition; Whereas nutrition is essential for food security, and the ongoing need to improve the nutritional quality of United States food assistance, particularly for vulnerable groups such as pregnant and lactating mothers and young children, with a focus on the cost-effective 1,000 days between pregnancy and age 2; Whereas nearly 870,000,000 people worldwide suffer from food insecurity; Whereas food insecurity in developing countries forces tens of millions of people into poverty, contributes to political and social instability, erodes economic growth, and undermines United States foreign assistance investments in areas including basic education, global health, environmental protection, and democratic institutions; Whereas the United States plays a lead role in supporting Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN), a global movement of 40 governments, civil societies, international organizations, development partners, researchers, and businesses in a collective effort to prioritize malnutrition, particularly during the 1,000 day window of opportunity between a mother’s pregnancy and her child’s second birthday, through effective policy, program implementation, and aligned support for national, costed nutrition plans, and dedicated national resources by the host countries; Whereas the United States, along with Ireland and other donors and partners, endorsed a call to action in September 2010 at 1,000 Days: Change a Life, Change the Future and launched the 1,000 Days partnership to stimulate international and national leadership to respond with urgency to the nutrition challenge in support of country requests for improved collaboration through alliances and partnership; Whereas the United States committed to reducing under-nutrition by 20 percent in the targeted zones of the 19 Feed the Future Focus countries and the Global Health Initiative countries by 2015, while also aiming to end preventable child deaths; Whereas country-led progress to adopt evidence-based policies to improve nutrition and reduce stunting has been documented, such as in Ethiopia where the rate of stunting among children under 5 decreased between 2000 and 2011 from 57 percent to 44 percent through a strong safety net program and a comprehensive nutrition plan to scale up community nutrition programs, micronutrient supplementation, and promotion of optimal infant and young child feeding; and Whereas the Nutrition for Growth conference taking place on June 8, 2013, in London, England, is an important opportunity to continue collaboration and forge new partnerships to address malnutrition: Now, therefore, be it That the House of Representatives— (1) recognizes the Scaling Up Nutrition movement as a global partnership to support country-led efforts to improve maternal and child nutrition involving governments, civil society, international organizations, donors, businesses, and researchers; (2) supports United States leadership to scale up nutrition and improve nutrition outcomes for pregnant and lactating women and young children, and support the Scaling Up Nutrition movement and the 1,000 Days partnership, which promotes targeted action and investment to improve nutrition for mothers and children in the 1,000 days between a woman's pregnancy and her child's second birthday; and (3) calls on relevant Federal agencies, including the United States Agency for International Development, Department of State, Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator, Department of Agriculture, Department of the Treasury, and Millennium Challenge Corporation to consider developing a nutrition strategy to further ongoing coordination efforts to improve indicators to track nutrition funding and outcomes across United States Government global nutrition programs, especially those in health, food security, agriculture development, food aid, and water, sanitation, and hygiene.