EU urged to tackle malnutrition worldwide
According to a new report, released on 26 June 2012, the EU should step up its efforts to tackle malnutrition worldwide. The EU is urged to significantly increase it’s funding and to ensure other EU policies, such as trade, are coherent with this objective in order to avoid negative side effects in the fight against malnutrition.
The report, entitled “A Time for Leadership: Europe’s Role in Eradicating Global Under-nutrition” was compiled by a number of different stakeholders, including UNICEF, WFP, GAIN, World Vision and the Red Cross EU Office. The report provides recommendations for the European Commission in mapping out how to respond the malnutrition that continues to be a major challenge in many developing countries. The report calls for “one master plan” as opposed to a multitude of policies pursued by different EU actors and points to the importance for a multi-stakeholder approach to malnutrition. Only if the government works together with civil society and enhances the role of the private sector through public-private relationships, will contributions be sufficient and turned into concrete action, the report warns.
The report calls for investments that are in line with environmental sustainability principles, thus taking into account water use, biofuels, changing demographics and climate change. The report was presented to the European Commission and the European Parliament on 26 June 2012. Speaking during the event, EU Commissioner for Development, Andris Piebalgs pointed to the importance of tackling malnutrition worldwide and welcomed the report as a valuable contribution to the EU’s efforts in this area. In his statement, Piebalgs emphasised that "under-nutrition is the cause of death for more than three million children each year globally”. He pointed out that “food security and nutrition should be the first focus for all our stakeholders”.
To read the full report, click here: PA International Foundation (pdf)
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