Nutrition funding: The missing piece of the puzzle
This briefing paper (PDF) from the Generation Nutrition highlights the fact that while governments in recent years have begun to take seriously the issue of undernutrition and have made a series of commitments at the global as well as the national level in this area, levels of aid and domestic financing of nutrition interventions still lag behind this political ambition. In this briefing paper, Generation Nutrition shows how global progress towards the World Health Assembly targets on stunting and acute malnutrition in under-fives needs to be accelerated. It also examines the current funding gaps for nutrition and proposes remedies – both at the international and country level. While the authors do not claim that financial resources alone will be enough for these targets to be reached (properly functioning government programmes and services, political leadership, well-trained and adequate numbers of staff, especially in the health sector, coordination among different development actors will all be key factors too), they do argue that without significantly more funding there is little chance of making enough progress to meet these critical 2025 targets.