EB158 - EU Statement - Item 25 - Maternal, infant and young child nutrition
WHO
158th session of the Executive Board
Item 25: Maternal, infant and young child nutrition
EU Statement
Chair,
I have the honour of speaking on behalf of the European Union and its 27 Member States.
The candidate countries North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, Ukraine, Republic of Moldova[*] and Georgia as well as Armenia align themselves with this statement.
We thank the Director General for the report and acknowledge the progress towards the Global Nutrition Targets whilst recognising the significant challenge faced globally. We are actually far off-track in achieving the six targets by 2030, and we even observe regression for two of them compared to the baseline year. Conflict, climate change, poverty and gender discrimination are some of the major drivers of malnutrition in all its forms. It is a major cause of illness, health inequities and death, particularly among children with almost half of child deaths linked to undernutrition.
We call on Member States to develop and support the delivery of concrete action plans and initiatives to scale up coverage of the process targets agreed in last year’s Resolution 78.24. We call for its full implementation which includes integrating nutrition within health systems and taking key actions including strengthening supply chains for essential medicines and supplements for nutrition, workforce training on nutrition, supporting breastfeeding, and provision of Essential Nutrition Actions within primary care.
Team Europe pledged €6.5 billion at N4G Summit last year to fight global malnutrition up to 2029. Recognising that every dollar invested in nutrition gives a return of twenty three dollars, we call on donor countries to scale up their financial investment in nutrition, and for all Member States to increase domestic resource mobilisation for health and nutrition. In addition, we call for prioritisation of the most effective and coordinated interventions that can be integrated into in health, social protection, education systems, humanitarian response and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH). Food systems, for example national school meal programmes, need to be transformed to improve nutrition and environmental outcomes.
We call for increased coordination and support for data collection on nutrition actions and outcomes. Improved use of data, research and operational evidence will help target the most vulnerable, maximise efficiency, and accelerate progress towards the targets.
Maternal, infant and young child nutrition is critical to health and survival. Ensuring optimal nutrition during the first 1,000 days of life is especially crucial and essential for long-term health and economic benefits. We appeal for renewed commitment to work together across borders and sectors, to turn global targets into tangible realities. Every percentage point of reduction in stunting, wasting, and micronutrient deficiencies as well as every increase in breastfeeding rates, and every step forward in reducing obesity, represents millions of lives improved, potential unlocked, and healthier futures for generations to come.
Additionally, in order to support country action to restrict digital marketing of breast milk substitutes, we suggest that the WHO continues to disseminate evidence on the negative impact of digital marketing of breast milk substitutes and continues to technically support the member states in the implementation of the WHO Code on the regulation of marketing of breast-milk substitutes.
[*] North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Albania continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.