On 16th of February, the Generation Nutrition EU campaign together with MEP McAvan, Chair of the European Parliament Development Committee and MEP Davor Stier, Rapporteur on the 2030 Agenda, organised a roundtable discussion on the key role of the EC in the fight against malnutrition in the run up to the next Nutrition for Growth Summit, due to be held in Rio on 4th August 2016.
The event was the opportunity for the Generation Nutrition campaign to present their specific asks to the European Commission “Nutrition Summit in Rio 2016 – A Call for Sustained EU Political Leadership to End Undernutrition”, in the run up to the Summit. This includes among other, an additional pledge of €1bn for nutrition-specific interventions for the period 2016-2020, the formulation of a wasting target in EU policies and strengthening of global accountability mechanisms.
The event saw the fruitful participation of 8 members of the European Parliament from different political groups, together with officials from various Permanent Representations of EU member states and representatives from Embassies in Brussels. Panellists included the Director for Sustainable Growth and Development of the European Commission, the Brazilian Ambassador to the EU, the Director of FAO office in Brussels and the Head of the Health and Nutrition department with Action Against Hunger in Kenya.
In 2013, the EC already took a strong leadership, committing to reducing the number of stunted children by at least 7 million by 2025, pledging €3.5bn for the 2014-2020 period to achieve this target. Mr. Ridolfi, representing the European Commission, underlined that the EU was on track in meeting its global commitment of reducing stunting. Still, he admitted that EU’s commitments are globally insufficient, and highlighted the opportunity of the mid-term review of the Multiannual Financial Framework as an open window to scale up investments for reducing undernutrition.
Mr. Sinaceur, the FAO representative in Brussels, expressed his hope that the Nutrition4Growth Summit in Rio will see the adoption of a Decade for Action on Nutrition. The event was a great success, with all the speakers agreeing on the importance for the EU to show strong political leadership in view of the Rio Summit, continuing to act as a champion in the eradication of undernutrition.
Every year, close to 6 million children die before they reach the age of five. 45% of these deaths are a result of poor nutrition. Still, less than 1% of global development aid is spent on specific interventions tackling undernutrition. In August 2016 the Government of Brazil will host the Nutrition4Growth Summit in Rio, with the attendance of Heads of States and governments from all over the world. They will meet to evaluate progress made so far as well as build on previous commitments with the necessary financial and political support to ensure the ambition of the Sustainable Development Goals can be realised. It will the biggest global event between now and 2020 to address the devastating burden of undernutrition.
See coverage of the event in EU Reporter and EU Observer.
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