FCDO's Minister for Africa, , gave a speech at
a stakeholder event to mark the launch of the Joint UN Initiative
for the Prevention of Wasting (JUNIPr). The initiative seeks to
tackle the deadliest form of malnutrition.
"I am delighted to join you all to speak about the Joint UN
Initiative for the Prevention of Wasting (JUNIPr).
The Prime Minister announced the creation of this partnership at
the G20 summit in Rio last November and so today is a chance for
us to share more information on this very timely initiative with
a wider audience.
My experience goes back further than simply being a Minister. As
a shadow minister for 10 years, I was very much focused on
nutrition and how we can move it forward in terms of the global
agenda.
We have a proud history as a country on malnutrition across the
globe including in our role as hosts of the first ever Nutrition
for Growth summit in 2013. We are very much looking forward to
the Paris Nutrition for Growth summit later this month.
I'm really happy to join you today to talk about this and as we
head into the final 5 years of the sustainable development goals
towards 2030, it is important that we take stock of the progress
that we have made so far, which challenges remain and where we
need to go from here in order to ensure we are making sustainable
progress that the globe so necessarily needs.
The issue of child wasting, the deadliest form of malnutrition,
is an area where making progress has been particularly
challenging. Whilst we have made progress on increasing the
number of children being reached with life-saving treatment, we
continue to see the same number of children becoming wasted each
year.
It's an incredibly difficult situation because it is entirely
preventable. It's a preventable condition and it's simply not
good enough that we've not made this progress. No child should
become wasted, especially when we know that even one bout of
wasting can leave a child with lifelong development challenges,
increasing their risk of disease, reducing their quality of life.
We know that in countries where child malnutrition is high, it is
both individuals and the growth of the wider economy that
suffers. That is a really important point to remember when we're
focusing on economic development in continents where this
situation is getting worse. Tackling malnutrition through
programmes like JUNIPr
will help boost economic growth around the world and in the UK,
supporting the Prime Minister's Plan for Change. It's a win-win
situation if we can focus on it.
This is why I am happy to be here today to open this event and to
share more information about the JUNIPr
partnership. An initiative which at its heart, is all about
strengthening our efforts and improving the way in which we work
to prevent wasting particularly in food insecure settings.
I am delighted to say that today we have with us government
representatives from the 3 JUNIPr-focus
countries, Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Mali as well as
representatives from the 3 UN agencies (UNICEF, World Food
Programme and World Health Organization) as well as our research
partner IFPRI (International Food Policy Research Institute) who
will all be sharing their views and perspectives on this
partnership and how we hope it will contribute to sustainable
progress towards our goal of ending malnutrition in all its forms
by 2030.
I will now hand you back to the moderator and I look forward to
hearing all of your contributions today. Thank you very much."
