Ireland and the United States have been working together towards the shared goal of ending extreme poverty and hunger in the world. Ireland has developed an important partnership with the United States on the 1,000 Days initiative to address the continuing crisis of maternal and child under-nutrition in some of the poorest countries and communities. The first thousand days, from pregnancy to a child’s second birthday, is the most critical period for a child’s physical and cognitive development. Lack of critical vitamins and micro-nutrients during this period reduces a child’s chances of survival. It can also result in children being stunted and underweight, with devastating consequences for their development. On 10 June, I attended a civil society event in Washington on ‘Sustaining Political Commitment to Scaling Up Nutrition’, which was co-hosted by an American Non-Governmental Organisation, Bread for the World, and Concern Worldwide. I delivered a keynote address at the event along with Dr. Rajiv Shah, the Administrator of USAID. The event highlighted progress on maternal and child under-nutrition in the 1000 days since the launch of the 1,000 Days initiative in September 2010.
To mark the US-Irish partnership on maternal and child malnutrition, and to build further commitment, Ireland’s Ambassador to the United States co-hosted an event on 11 June, at the Embassy, with Mr. Jonathan Shrier, Acting Special Representative on Food Security at the US Department of State. The event was attended by Dr. Rajiv Shah along with members of US Government agencies, civil society, business, international agencies and diplomatic missions.
While significant progress has been achieved on improving maternal and child malnutrition in the last thousand days, a report published in the Lancet Medical Journal on 6 June demonstrated that under- nutrition is the underlying cause of nearly half of the deaths of children under five. The report also highlighted the devastating economic consequences of poor nutrition, which is estimated to reduce GDP in Africa and Asia by as much as 11%. The Lancet report has further strengthened the case for ensuring that mothers and babies have good nutrition during the 1000 days window of opportunity.
Ireland’s new Policy on Global Development, “One World, One Future”, which was launched last month, commits us to continuing our efforts to address this scourge. In Washington, I reiterated Ireland’s commitment to redouble our engagement on malnutrition in Irish Aid’s key partner countries, as pledged by the Taoiseach at the ‘Nutrition for Growth’ meeting in London on 8 June.
