Children, Food Security and Nutrition

What We Do » Children, Food Security and Nutrition
 

Reduce Child Mortality

Over the past 20 years, the number of stunted children under the age of five has fallen by 88 million. But one quarter of all children are still stunted, and poor nutrition causes 3.1 million child deaths each year. 

The goal of the MDG-F's work in this area was to reduce extreme poverty and hunger and halt preventable deaths caused by poor nutrition. Our intiatives targeted the poorest and most vulnerable populations, including indigenous communities: 18 of our 24 programme countries hosted more than a third of all the under-nourished people in the world in 2010-2012. 

With a total allocation of US$131.9 million, this was our largest area of intervention, representing almost 20% of the MDG-F’s work. Initiatives ranged from providing low cost nutritional packages to engaging with pregnant and lactating mothers to promote breastfeeding and ensure they are healthy and aware of key nutrition issues. Promoting food security and advocating for mainstreaming children’s right to food into national plans and policies were also keys element in our fight against under nutrition.

Our intiatives were created to accelerate progress towards the achievement of MDG 1: Eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, and MDG 4: reducing child mortality.
 
Some of our successes: In Vietnam, nearly one in three mothers now nurse their newborns thanks to an MDG-F programme to reduce child malnutrition. 25,000 children in Guinea-Bissau, where a third of under-5's suffer from stunting, learned better nutrition by cultivating school gardens. In Brazil, MDG-F initiatives reduced the incidence of under-weight in two indigenous regions, where 40% of people live in extreme poverty. As part of its effort to reduce maternal and child mortality in Cuba, the MDG-F helped create human milk banks in six provinces as a way to promote breastfeeding and high quality milk.

RESULTS OF OUR WORK:

  • 1.6 million children and 800,000 mothers have better nutrition.
  • 1.2 million mothers and children benefitted from breastfeeding programmes and policies.
  • Almost 83,000 health workers and 6,500 health centers, and more than 2,500 schools and 8,000 local and national institutions partnered to fight malnutriiton.

Click here for a complete report of the indicators and results achieved by the MDG-F’s 24 joint programmes on Children, Food Security and Nutrition. 

Success Stories

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Analysis of key findings and achievements

This report captures the main achievements and experiences of the MDG-F’s programmes in this thematic window and presents their impact on the lives of communities across five regions. Prepared by an independent expert, the study is based on extensive desk reviews, interviews with selected joint programmes, and a thorough analysis and synthesis of inputs and contributions.

Download Summary Download Full Report

Joint Programme Title
Country
MDG-F Programme Area