Better data on nutrition will bring greater accountability

In June 2013, the Nutrition for Growth event was the ‘start of a sustained financial and political commitment to ending undernutrition within a generation’. A new report will help to monitor progress against the commitments made. The report will be complied by an Independent Expert Group (IEG) co-chaired by Lawrence Haddad (IFPRI) and Srinath Reddy (PHFI).

“The Global Nutrition Report will serve as the ‘canary in the mine’ by alerting countries to potential ‘danger’ where malnutrition issues are not being addressed fully, as well as sharing learning where things are working well”. Lawrence Haddad said the report aims to improve the quality and availability of data globally, monitor progress, identify bottle necks, contribute to accelerate the reduction of undernutrition and set the stage to position nutrition in the post-MDG era. It seeks to sustain and increase political commitment to eradicate malnutrition and provide objective, transparent and accessible data to improve accountability.  The report will provide a one stop shop for global nutrition data, and will be launched at the Second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2) meeting in Rome in November 2014. It is hoped that the report will build momentum for action on nutrition and empower stakeholders at all levels to effectively allocate resources and scale up actions. See the new website dedicated to the report for more information.

The Global Nutrition Report is funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Government of Canada, the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, the European Commission and 1,000 Days.