21 March 2013

Where should nutrition position itself in the post 2015 settlement?

Last week I was at an EC/Scaling Up Nutrition meeting presenting on the above topic. The SUN meeting was timed to coincide with the announcement of a sensible new EU nutrition policy focused on stunting reduction.

My take was that in a world where the High Level Panel has received nearly a 100 proposals for different Goals (including one on plankton--as a measure of the health of oceans), that nutrition was not going to get a stand alone goal.

I suggested the following:
  • A separate nutrition goal, while attractive to nutrition community, is a nonstarter
  • Replacing underweight with stunting is a step forward, but not nearly enough
  • Bracket hunger and nutrition together as equal--but different– partners
  • Beyond this vertical “home” for nutrition, create a “horizontal” nutrition goal with nutrition indicators strategically placed throughout the different goals
  • Number of nutrition specific indicators in new framework likely to be small, but worth pushing for 5-6
  • Important to push for nutrition-sensitive indicators too
The powerpoints are here.

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