[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 254 Introduced in House (IH)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 254

 Recognizing the importance of United States leadership in addressing 
        the challenge of global maternal and child malnutrition.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 11, 2013

 Ms. Wasserman Schultz (for herself and Mr. Diaz-Balart) submitted the 
 following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign 
                                Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Recognizing the importance of United States leadership in addressing 
        the challenge of global maternal and child malnutrition.

Whereas the United States and other partners contributed to reducing child 
        deaths from 12,000,000 in 1990 to 6,900,000 in 2011, and supported 
        efforts to end preventable child deaths, and pledged to end preventable 
        child deaths within a generation;
Whereas food security and nutrition is foundational for human development, and 
        persistent hunger and malnutrition stunts the mental and physical 
        development of the next generation and hinders education, health, 
        economics, and security;
Whereas scaling up nutrition interventions can help reduce poverty, improve 
        educational attainment, and improve lifetime earnings, and economic 
        productivity, increasing a country's gross domestic product (GDP) by as 
        much as 3 percent annually;
Whereas leading Nobel Laureate economists have recommended that addressing 
        hunger and malnutrition among young children should be the top priority 
        for policymakers, identifying nutrition as the smartest investment with 
        every $1 invested in nutrition generating as much as $138 in better 
        health and increased productivity;
Whereas reducing maternal and child malnutrition, especially in the critical 
        1,000 days between pregnancy and age 2, is critical to increasing child 
        survival, improving cognitive and physical development, strengthening 
        the immune system to bolster resistance to disease, and breaking the 
        cycle of poverty;
Whereas nearly 850,000,000 people are chronically undernourished today, a 
        condition that is responsible, directly or indirectly, for 45 percent of 
        the 6,900,000 deaths among children under the age of 5 annually;
Whereas additionally, 11 percent of global disease burden is attributable to 
        maternal and child under-nutrition;
Whereas a growing evidence base shows 1 in 4 of the world's children is stunted 
        and in developing countries this can rise to 1 in 3;
Whereas 80 percent of the world's stunted children live in just 14 countries;
Whereas stunting leads to long-term poor health, impaired brain development, and 
        decreased immunity;
Whereas 2,000,000,000 people are deficient in key vitamins and minerals, and 
        over 165,000,000 children under the age of 5 are stunted as a result of 
        malnutrition;
Whereas nutrition is essential for food security, and the ongoing need to 
        improve the nutritional quality of United States food assistance, 
        particularly for vulnerable groups such as pregnant and lactating 
        mothers and young children, with a focus on the cost-effective 1,000 
        days between pregnancy and age 2;
Whereas nearly 870,000,000 people worldwide suffer from food insecurity;
Whereas food insecurity in developing countries forces tens of millions of 
        people into poverty, contributes to political and social instability, 
        erodes economic growth, and undermines United States foreign assistance 
        investments in areas including basic education, global health, 
        environmental protection, and democratic institutions;
Whereas the United States plays a lead role in supporting Scaling Up Nutrition 
        (SUN), a global movement of 40 governments, civil societies, 
        international organizations, development partners, researchers, and 
        businesses in a collective effort to prioritize malnutrition, 
        particularly during the 1,000 day window of opportunity between a 
        mother's pregnancy and her child's second birthday, through effective 
        policy, program implementation, and aligned support for national, costed 
        nutrition plans, and dedicated national resources by the host countries;
Whereas the United States, along with Ireland and other donors and partners, 
        endorsed a call to action in September 2010 at ``1,000 Days: Change a 
        Life, Change the Future'' and launched the 1,000 Days partnership to 
        stimulate international and national leadership to respond with urgency 
        to the nutrition challenge in support of country requests for improved 
        collaboration through alliances and partnership;
Whereas the United States committed to reducing under-nutrition by 20 percent in 
        the targeted zones of the 19 Feed the Future Focus countries and the 
        Global Health Initiative countries by 2015, while also aiming to end 
        preventable child deaths;
Whereas country-led progress to adopt evidence-based policies to improve 
        nutrition and reduce stunting has been documented, such as in Ethiopia 
        where the rate of stunting among children under 5 decreased between 2000 
        and 2011 from 57 percent to 44 percent through a strong safety net 
        program and a comprehensive nutrition plan to scale up community 
        nutrition programs, micronutrient supplementation, and promotion of 
        optimal infant and young child feeding; and
Whereas the Nutrition for Growth conference taking place on June 8, 2013, in 
        London, England, is an important opportunity to continue collaboration 
        and forge new partnerships to address malnutrition: Now, therefore, be 
        it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) recognizes the Scaling Up Nutrition movement as a 
        global partnership to support country-led efforts to improve 
        maternal and child nutrition involving governments, civil 
        society, international organizations, donors, businesses, and 
        researchers;
            (2) supports United States leadership to scale up nutrition 
        and improve nutrition outcomes for pregnant and lactating women 
        and young children, and support the Scaling Up Nutrition 
        movement and the 1,000 Days partnership, which promotes 
        targeted action and investment to improve nutrition for mothers 
        and children in the 1,000 days between a woman's pregnancy and 
        her child's second birthday; and
            (3) calls on relevant Federal agencies, including the 
        United States Agency for International Development, Department 
        of State, Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator, Department of 
        Agriculture, Department of the Treasury, and Millennium 
        Challenge Corporation to consider developing a nutrition 
        strategy to further ongoing coordination efforts to improve 
        indicators to track nutrition funding and outcomes across 
        United States Government global nutrition programs, especially 
        those in health, food security, agriculture development, food 
        aid, and water, sanitation, and hygiene.
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