Eight hundred days to go….lessons learnt for saving children’s lives

Midwives training in Nicaragua. Credit: Steve Lewis

Steve Lewis, Global Health Advocacy Manager, RESULTS UK reports on child health progress at the UN General Assembly.

Last week at the UN General Assembly recommitted their efforts to meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and began the formal process to decide the framework for the next 15 years. Some of the MDGs have been met, but the MDGs on Maternal Health and Child Health are among the most off-track.  RESULTS has recently committed to increasing our advocacy on Child Survival issues, so this week I have been meeting  with  various speakers who are convinced that progress can be sped up if the required resources can be made available.
At another event Tony Lake, director of UNICEF, outlined the good news, that since 1990 the number of under-five child deaths has fallen from 12 million a year to 6.6 million this year. But there is still a long way to go.  The majority of child deaths are preventable. Conditions such as pneumonia and diarrhoea kills over a quarter of children. There is “the fierce urgency of today’, to put in place the simple solutions that can prevent these deaths.

Princess Sarah Zeid of Jordan spoke movingly about her own experience of the critical role of trained health workers. “Three years ago I almost died in child-birth”, she explained, “only the presence of excellent health staff saved me and my beautiful child”. Fortunately all was well – but all women around the world should have the right to a trained health worker, and the commodities and services they need.

These commodities are not so complicated – the UN Commission on Life Saving Commodities for Women and Children has identified 13 under-utilised and over-looked life-saving commodities. Of these 13 commodities, 3 are specific to child health, which if scaled up could prevent death from conditions including pneumonia and diarrhoea. In fact the Lancet health journal in June 2013 showed that nearly all deaths from diarrhoea, and two thirds of deaths from pneumonia, can be ended through relatively simple solutions.

Frances Day-Stirk, president of the international confederation of midwives, spoke about the importance of women’s rights and education. “I wouldn’t be sitting here if it wasn’t for my mother, a strong woman who believed in educating girls as well as boys. That wasn’t so common where I grew up. From that start I became employed and an empowered woman. For a girl who doesn’t have those benefits, she can get left behind, in some countries if she dies she is hardly even counted”. Frances also called for a greater emphasis on Exclusive Breastfeeding until the age of six months – “the single biggest remedy for the undernutrition that contributes to 44% of all child deaths”.

Doctor Tedros from Ethiopia took up the themes of health workers and data collection. Currently Minister of Foreign Affairs in Ethiopia he was previously the Minister of Health when the country massively expanded the number of Community Health Workers. “We knew that Primary Health Care was essential, and we took it to all corners of the country….  Using women as health promoters was key, in my country women seek health services from other women.”

Ethiopia now has 38,000 village health workers who can give prevention advice and carry out basic care or treatment. Thanks largely to this ‘Health Army’ the country have achieved MDG 4 (to reduce child mortality by two thirds) ahead of schedule.  Ethiopia is now considered a role model in African health circles. One other aspect of their work is strong monitoring and data collection. “We strictly collect data in all our health facilities” said Dr Tedros, “and learn from our successes and failures. To make progress in health, accountability needs to be a mindset”.

To finish the evening, we returned to the theme of the MDGs, and how the next development framework should be different. Tony Lake identified a ‘fundamental flaw’ in the design of the current set of MDGs: “the MDGs have been very successful in pulling together global support for a short set of global goals. But there has been a basic mistake in the MDGS. They were based on national averages. So everyone looked for the low hanging fruit. The easy people to reach, the city dwellers, the better off. We now know that the poorest were left behind. In fact this has slowed us down. In the most remote areas there is more disease, so you get more results. So it’s more cost effective to work in the most disadvantaged areas. That will be the right thing to do.”

Over the next two years the global community will debate the exact make-up of the next development framework. It is unlikely that there will be such an emphasis on health issues in the next set of goals – but that does not mean efforts will tail off. With what the world knows now there is ample scope for a speed-up in progress. If enough funding is available it should be possible to put in place the components of much-improved health systems in almost all countries. Trained health workers, educated girls, access to medicines and health supplies, immunisation for all, and proper nutrition are the building blocks that will allow us to reach ‘health for all’ by 2030.

Australian Election Outcome – Challenges and Opportunities

 

by Mark Rice, RESULTS Global Health Advocacy Manager

 

Election Results generally

The Federal Election has resulted in the Liberal–National Coalition winning a decisive majority in the House of Representatives (with the Coalition likely to hold 90 seats, Labor 55 seats and independent and minor party candidates 5 seats). In the Senate, no party has achieved an outright majority, and Labor and the Greens Senators will make up less than half of the Senate once newly-elected and re-elected Senators start their term next July.  From mid 2014, a range of independent and minor party Senators will have the balance of power, and are unlikely to support consistently either of the major parties in Senate votes.

New Decision-makers

The members of the Ministry that poverty campaigners are most likely to aim to influence are (left to right in the photos):

- Prime Minister – Tony Abbott MP (NSW);

- Minister for Foreign Affairs – Julie Bishop MP (WA);
- Treasurer – Joe Hockey MP (NSW);
- Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs – Senator Brett Mason (QLD);
- Assistant Treasurer – Senator Arthur Sinodinos (NSW) 

 

The importance of influencing the Treasurer and Assistant Treasurer are:

• RESULTS and other campaigners make an annual Budget submission to the Treasury, proposing priorities for the aid program for the coming years.
• The Treasurer represents Australia on the governing board of the World Bank and Asian Development Bank, and the Treasurer or Assistant Treasurer attend regular meetings of these organisations. 

Aid Policy – Known amount and unknown impacts

Just before the election, the Coalition released its Foreign Affairs Policy and final set of spending and savings measures.  The Foreign Affairs Policy provides the following limited details on the Coalition’s aid policy:

• Continued support for Australia’s aid eventually reaching 0.5% of gross national income (GNI).
• In the period to 2016-17, a freeze in aid in real terms (with aid being adjusted only to offset price increases).
• A stronger focus on the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean regions, and increased quality of aid delivery.
• Examining the possible expansion of a guest worker program for people from the Pacific Islands.

The accompanying set of spending and savings measures revealed that the planned freeze to aid in real terms uses 2012-13 rather than 2013-14 as the base year, meaning that reductions in planned aid start in the current financial year, and total aid over four years is $4.5 billion lower than previous estimates.  The “before and after” figures below show the financial impact of this policy announcement.

 Financial impact of aid reductions

	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17
Previous estimates ($m): [1]	5,666	6343	6849	7398
After reduction ($m):	5,010	5470	5619	5657
Difference ($m):	656	873	1,230	1,741

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[1] http://devpolicy.org/in-brief/aid-in-2016-17-to-be-back-at-2012-13-levels-under-coalition-plan-20130905-1/

On average, aid in 2013-14 to 2016-17 is expected to be 0.33% of GNI, compared with the average of 0.39% of GNI over the same four years included in the previous Government’s August Economic Statement. 

The policy would result in a $250 million reduction in aid in 2013-14 in real terms from 2012-13, although aid would be just maintained in real terms in the four years to 2016-17.  (The 2013-14 Budget provided for an increase in aid in real terms of about $400 million this financial year.)  Obviously, our greatest concern is the reduction in 2013-14, as nearly all aid for this year is already committed and any reductions would require deferring or cancelling some committed payments. 

RESULTS seeking to find answers to several questions about how the Government would achieve these reductions, including:

• Whether the amount included in aid since 2012-13 for on-shore asylum seeker costs ($375 million) would be part of the reductions (which could soften the blow a little). 
• Whether existing multi-year contributions due to finish in 2013-14 (such as the current pledges to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, the GAVI Alliance and the Global Partnership for Education) will proceed in full.

Opportunities 

The current situation presents several opportunities as well as threats for campaigners on poverty:

• As we have advance notice of planned reductions in aid (unlike previous times when governments have deferred or reduced planned aid), we have time to seek changes to the announced policy. 
• In the House of Representatives, up to 42 of the 150 members will be new, and the best time to influence the priorities and position of a Member of Parliament is when they are newly-elected.

In coming months, we will be seeking MPs’ support for an increased contribution by Australia to the Global Fund for 2014 to 2016, and to extend contribution to GAVI by two years to 2015.  One objective for these actions, as well as securing much-needed funding for these organisations, is to help build the case for increased overall aid by highlighting effective measures to improve health.

RESULTS is also planning to have our staff and volunteers visit Members of Parliament in Canberra  in one of the early sitting weeks of the Parliamentary term, so we can make our case to a number of the influential MPs and potential allies in person.  

 

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High expectations for the world's poor

The Hoopla asked some of Australia’s most eloquent, outspoken and passionate women to tell them what they thought of Australia's election result. Our CEO Maree Nutt was one of them. Here are her observations .

The Coalition election-eve promise to slash $4.5 billion dollars from foreign aid looks set to become a reality. Instead, those billions of dollars are to be invested in infrastructure projects providing Australians with better roads and motorways.

The winners  will be Melbourne’s East West link ($1.5 billion), Sydney’s WestConnex ($1.5 billion) and the Brisbane Gateway Motorway upgrade ($1 billion). 

I am devastated to think that millions of people around the world could miss out on life saving vaccines, bed nets to prevent malaria or basic schooling so that we can get from A to B faster and smoother.

Only last year, both major parties were committed to increasing Australia’s aid to 0.5% of gross national income by 2015. The Labor Government pushed that timetable out by two years and also diverted aid funds to pay for asylum seeker costs. With the Coalition announcement last week, it has emphatically won the ‘race to the bottom’ on the aid issue and their decision will soon become a reality.

As individuals, we Australians are a generous lot.

In Tony Abbott’s electorate alone, 54,000 individuals, 1500 corporates and 72 church and community groups support overseas aid either through donations, activism and volunteering.

Many of them have ben very vocal leading up to the election, including 3,000 on Manly Beach just over 2 weeks ago spelling out the message “Halve Global Poverty” on the sand.

We cannot allow the new Abbott government do this to the aid budget. Now, more than ever, we need to press for change and not accept this mean-spirited representation of Australian values.

We are still the lucky country. We can still afford to be generous to the world’s poor … and have our new roads too.

Click here to read the observations from all of The Hoopla's Women With High Expectations.

2013 Make Poverty History Electoral Forum: Denison

By Gina Olivieri and Jeremy Picone

Recently 120 people gathered at the University of Tasmania to hear about the aid policies and opinions of the seven candidates for the seat of Denison at the Make Poverty History electoral forum. Eight members from RESULTS Hobart attended, and two asked questions of the candidates. Well done to the awesome young people at VGen Tasmania and Oaktree Tasmania for organising the event.

The forum was an eye-opening experience. It was heartening to hear the genuine expressions of interest and passion for ending extreme poverty from a number of candidates, while quite disappointing to hear the out-dated and inaccurate perceptions of aid and development from others.
Unsurprisingly, all candidates seemed to agree that ending extreme poverty was a worthwhile pursuit, and that Australia should contribute its fair share to achieving this goal. Where the candidates differed, of course, was how they felt this could be best achieved.

Suggestions included abandoning international frameworks that were perceived to impinge on our sovereignty, withdrawing support for multilateral organisations to focus solely on bilateral aid, and deferring action on the climate crisis in order to cater to material needs perceived as more immediate.
This was somewhat frustrating to observe, as a greater familiarity with aid and development on the part of these candidates would have informed them these suggestions were not only unlikely to help, but plain unnecessary. As advocates, we are not calling for our aspiring leaders to reinvent the wheel, but to recognise that we already have the wheel. it’s getting us to where we need to go – it just needs more air in the tyre.

Australia has for the past 13 years been a signatory to the Millennium Declaration, and working towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Since 1970 Australia has been ostensibly aiming to increase its foreign aid spending to 0.7% of Gross National Income (GNI). And Australia has a track record of supporting effective global institutions such as the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, which has resulted in 29 million mosquito nets being distributed in our region alone, for example.

Australia’s aid spending already has significant and effective measures in place against corruption, a fact that seems to have bypassed some candidates. We do not simply hand over money to foreign governments and hope for the best.

There isn’t actually a great need to come up with a whole lot of new ideas of where and how to spend our aid money. We’re not waiting for a political party to come up with their own MDGs and a local alternative to the Global Fund. We just need to fulfil the promises we have already made. This means reaching 0.7% GNI in aid spending – something the UK will achieve this year.

We need to increase our contribution to the Global Fund to $US 375 million for the period 2014-16; a smart, strategic investment that will save lives and reduce the burden of disease. It is possible that AIDS, TB and Malaria can be eliminated within 15 years if we make a big funding push now.
We need enthusiastic, genuine bipartisan support for the next set of goals that will succeed the Millennium Development Goals in 2015 – the Sustainable Development Goals.

And we need to realise that the challenges of climate change and poverty go hand in hand. The UN Human Development Report for 2013 predicted that 3 billion people will be in extreme poverty by 2050 if we do not act to prevent the catastrophic effects of climate change. Our leaders need to realise that irrespective of their beliefs about why or how the sea levels are rising and weather patterns are changing; their impact on human lives will be devastating, and we need to be planning for this now.

Fortunately, several of the candidates spoke with a deep appreciation of and personal commitment to these issues. It was also a proud moment when the incumbent Andrew Wilkie MP, spoke about the role of RESULTS volunteers in championing the Global Fund, saying RESULTS is an organisation he “has a lot of time for”.

We hope our incoming Government have a lot of time for ending poverty.

Why we need the Global Fund

 By Gina Olivieri, RESULTS Grassroots Engagement Consultant

In September 2009, I was lucky enough to meet with Dr Akhtar Hussain, Head of the Antiretroviral Program at Prince Mshiyeni Memorial Hospital in Umlazi. I arrived at the hospital under a blanket of grey clouds and drizzling rain. The weather seemed to highlight the mood of the hospital from the outside – dark, shabby and desperate, with people lined up to get inside. Once inside it was very busy, with a constant stream of people treading a path past the reception where I waited nervously for Dr Hussain. People walked, limped and were wheeled past. People wore face masks; whether due to Tuberculosis (TB) or the new threat of swine flu I wasn’t sure.

Dr Hussain emerged from the throng of people, beaming a warm smile. He had a relaxed and friendly demeanour, no mean feat for someone with a no doubt highly stressful and busy job. He immediately offered a tour of the hospital. He took me first to the hospital’s crisis centre. Called ‘Place of Comfort’, it is a place where rape victims can be treated, tested for HIV, and report the crime to police. The centre has 5 to ten people per day report to the centre for help, with victims ranging from 2 month old babies to adults. I was also shown around the small TB clinic where a few people waited and watched TV. We then headed to Vusithemba Clinic, the hospital’s HIV/AIDS clinic. On the way a trolley was wheeled past and a pair of anonymous feet poked out from under the sheet. The head was covered.

On the way across the car park to Vusithemba Clinic Dr Hussain remarked that today was a quiet day. The people lining the entire length of the veranda suggested otherwise, but Dr Hussain told me that usually the line extends to the other side of the car park. This line begins forming at 5am, and people will often wait all day to be seen. Men, women, teenagers and children all wait patiently with simple red numbered stickers indicating their place in line. I saw a girl with number 168 on her hand, a sticker marked 225 lay abandoned on the floor. The waiting room and hallways were all packed with people. On the day I visited it looked as though about 80-90% were women, and indeed Dr Hussain confirmed that men face increased stigma and are reluctant to seek help.

The name Vusithemba roughly translates to ‘building hope’. The hospital had to find an alternative to calling it the HIV/AIDS Clinic, due to the stigma surrounding the disease. The name also acts as a form of encouragement to patients, reminding them that they can live long and healthy lives whilst being HIV positive. The Vusithemba Clinic started its HIV program in about 2004, without access to any antiretroviral drugs (ARVs; HIV-treating medications). Initially staff would only be able to offer testing, counselling and education. In the early days patients would sell their test results, as they could be used to get food parcels, but Dr Hussain believes this problem has been overcome. In 2005, the clinic had about 60 patients. Now that number stands at 8,500. Considering the national HIV rate is officially estimated to be about 18% and Umlazi has a population of 1.6 million people, the clinic treats a maximum of 3% of the Umlazi’s HIV positive population. Dr Hussain estimates that Umlazi’s HIV rate is more like 40% based on compulsory testing of pregnant women in the hospital. Between 60% and 70% of people reporting to the hospital have HIV-related sicknesses such as TB. Seeing the crowded waiting room and calculating these figures highlighted the enormity of South Africa’s HIV/AIDS pandemic.

The clinic is under-resourced and limited in the patients they can treat. Until recently patients needed to have a CD4 count of less than 200 to receive treatment. A CD4 count is a measure of how many immune cells are left in a person’s body. The lower the count, the more HIV has attacked the immune system and the sicker the person is. If a person comes to the clinic with a CD4 count above 200 they are encouraged to stay healthy and called back every three months. Recently the CD4 cut-off was changed to 350, meaning more people can access treatment and stay healthy for longer.

The clinic faces a big problem in staff shortages. New guidelines from the Department of Health require more work from the same number of staff, so burnout is common. The staffing requirements of the clinic are significant; the clinic doesn’t just need doctors but also cleaners, security and clerks to keep the clinic clean, safe and organised. Despite the challenges, Dr Hussain tries extremely hard to put all mothers on ARVs, regardless of their CD4 count, to try and protect their children from the disease. The clinic does a lot to educate people and empower them to live healthy lives. There is a three day training program for patients to learn to take their medication properly, and a big emphasis on helping them find support. Inside the training room I saw a piece of cardboard stuck to the wall with various pills taped on it to show the daily regimen of medication for patients.
The stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS remains a significant barrier to people seeking treatment, and Dr Hussain even says ‘I think some die of their stigma’. Umlazi is thought to be in a stage of denial, and within the community people avoid speaking to Dr Hussain publicly as he is well-known as the HIV/AIDS doctor. The stigma means HIV/AIDS isn’t spoken about openly, fuelling myths and misinformation. Even a medical intern recently asked Dr Hussain if HIV was introduced to Africa by American scientists. Zulu people will often see a traditional healer for muthi (traditional herbal medicine) instead of or as well as their doctor. Muthi can cause problems such as liver damage and can interfere with the effectiveness of ARVs. Sometimes people will stop taking their ARVs altogether.

For Dr Hussain, this is but one challenge. He says his greatest challenge in his work is seeing people so incredibly sick with HIV/AIDS every day. His greatest reward comes from seeing people getting better enough with treatment to return to work. About 70-80% of patients treated at Vusithemba return to work. Seeing children become well enough to go to school is also a great reward.

Preventing the spread of HIV further is a huge public health concern in South Africa, and one that has attracted considerable attention. Dr Hussain believes that there is a greater need for more VCT (voluntary counselling and testing) and empowering young people through sex education. He says that simply distributing condoms does not work. He believes young people have a vital role in stopping the spread of HIV, saying ‘young people must understand HIV, get tested, and change their behaviour. They must understand ABC (Abstain, Be faithful, use a Condom) and not get trapped by HIV/AIDS. They must be young leaders and stay HIV-negative’.

I wrote this piece in 2009 after visiting Prince Mshiyeni Memorial Hospital in Umlazi as a volunteer with The Oaktree Foundation’s Schools4Schools program.. Stats and facts undoubtedly have changed since then. What hasn't changed, is the need for countries like Australia to increase their contribution to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria to prevent future illness and deaths. In November 2013 the replenishment conference is taking place where donors will decide how much they give the Global Fund for the 2014-2016 period.

Australia must commit $395million for this period. We can end AIDS, TB and Malaria if we make smart, strategic decisions now.

Join the conversation and show your support by tweeting #thebigpush to @RESULTS_AU

Or visit theglobalfund.org/en/thebigpush

Microfinance in Sri Lanka

Mixing business with pleasure was no problem for RESULTS National Manager, Maree Nutt who stumbled upon and then visited a Grameen microfinance replication program while on her recent holiday in Sri Lanka.

After a number of wrong turns we finally found ourselves at the remote and idyllic surfing spot.  Fortunately, ‘remote’ still meant that our post surfing reward was breakfast at the equally remote and simple Hilltop Canbanas and café run by the ever friendly owner, Dilani.

Imagine my surprise when my son Jack spotted that our tea was served in mugs emblazoned with the words ‘Grameen microcredit’! I soon learned that Dilani’s husband Indika was the manager of a nearby branch of what is now called “Prime Grameen”.

Starting with some talk about Muhummad Yunus and RESULTS, it didn’t take long before Dilani had arranged for me to visit her husband’s branch of Prime Grameen in the bustling town of Monaragula, the following week..

Prime Grameen has 48 branches around Sri Lanka. The Monaragula branch has fifteen staff, most of whom spend Monday to Wednesday going out to the villages to collect weekly loan repayments and savings deposits from their 2.600 women clients.

My visit was at the end of the week when approved new clients come to the branch to receive their first loan. The process had begun two weeks earlier with discussions with Branch staff go into villages to identify potential clients who interested in improving their lives financially and who are sufficiently poor by the Bank’s formal assessment process.

Apart from credit, a package of financial services is provided. For example a $2 life insurance policy provides immediate cancellation of the loan plus 50,000  (approximately $400) rupees to the family should the woman borrower die accidentally.  Each woman must also open an interest bearing savings account (9%) and save a minimum of 60 rupees or 50 cents per week over 51 weeks of the loan.

A very important part of Prime Grameen’s business model for sustainability is to offer a range of other savings products to the non-poor.  Fixed deposits and children’s savings accounts offer good incentives and are available to any member of the public. These deposits help provide the loan capital as well as cover other costs.

At the branch that day I met Soma, a smiling and gentle 55 year old woman who would receive her first loan of 25,000 Rupees (just over $200) for a sewing business. She is widowed and her son lives in Colombo but does not visit or support her to any extent. She planned to buy 2 sewing machines and have one worker assisting her from her home. She seemed very sensible, modest and capable, and also very excited. I look forward to seeing Soma one day with her life improved

I also thank Muhammad Yunus for the gift of Grameen which has been replicated to near and far corners of the world. 

RESULTS has long advocated for increase quality and quantity of microfinance (credit, savings and other financial services) within the Australian aid program. Most recently RESULTS volunteers have also advocated to protect the Grameen Bank from threats to its operations and governance from the Government of Bangladesh. See more at www.results.org.au

Why is undernutrition an important development issue?

by RESULTS Intern Fiona Holdsworth

According to the World Health Organisation, malnutrition claims the lives of over 3 million children each year, predominately occurring in 34 developing countries. Studies report that 165 million children aged under 5 have stunted growth due to malnutrition and an estimated 870 million people go hungry worldwide. The British Medical Journal, The Lancet, has also attributed 45% of all child deaths to malnutrition.

Quality nutrition is important to combat high rates of child mortality, reduced brain development and stunting. Children who have suffered malnutrition face additional hurdles in succeeding in the classroom and beyond.

The economic costs of malnutrition are also considerable. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization reported that globally, malnutrition, including obesity resulting from unbalanced nutrition, could be causing $3.5 trillion in health costs and lost productivity. This translates to 2-3% of Gross Domestic Product on average for developing countries. In Africa, it is estimated that up to 11% of GDP is lost to under nutrition every year, which is more than 10% of lifetime earnings per capita.

Nutrition for Growth: Beating Hunger through Business and Science

Nutrition for Growth was a global summit on 8 June that aimed to eliminate undernutrition in our lifetime through collaboration by civil society groups, governments and businesses. The event was headed by UK Prime Minister David Cameron, Brazilian Vice President Michel Temer and the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation president Jamie Cooper-Hohn.  The main success of the summit was an agreement with 51 countries, businesses and civil society groups to save the lives of 1.7 million children by the end of 2020.

The Summit also aimed to achieve the following outcomes by 2020 –

• Ensure at least 500 million pregnant women and children under two receive adequate nutrition.
• Reduce the number of stunted children under the age of five by at least 20 million.
• Increasing funding to prevent stunting, encourage breastfeeding, and increasing treatment of severe acute malnutrition. This is expected to save the lives of at least 1.7 million children under the age of five. 
• Increase the amount of funding towards nutrition related research.

Funding for nutrition is an excellent return on investment. It is expected that for every $1 spend on nutritional interventions such as those agreed at the Summit, the return from reduced health costs and increased economic opportunities is $15. The Nutrition for Growth summit has been heralded as a great step forward to combat malnutrition. The summit secured new commitments of up to US$4.15 billion to tackle undernutrition up to 2020, $2.9 billion of which is core funding with the remainder secured through matched funding from business and civil society groups.

While the pledges of the summit are a great step forward, according to the World Health Assembly, the $4.15 billion pledge is still well short of the estimated $10 billion required to tackle malnutrition comprehensively.

What is Australia doing about the issue?

The Australian Government pledged at the Summit to:

• provide an extra AUD$40 million over the next four years to support a new initiative to help more than one million people in the Asia-Pacific region improve their nutrition and access better food; and
• join the Scaling Up Nutrition Movement, which provides financial support to countries which have developed national nutrition plans. . 

Despite the absence of a strong Australian presence at the Summit, the pledge to support nutrition in the Asia-Pacific provides some assistance to a region which is not a high priority for other donors, and the decision to join the Scaling Up Nutrition Movement provides a basis for increased Australian support for nutrition programs in the future.

Nutrition focused aid works

Combating malnutrition is vital to combat poverty in the Asia-Pacific region. One of our largest aid recipients, Indonesia, is a fantastic example to demonstrate the importance of aid funding to improve nutrition. The Indonesian Government, with international aid, has been able to combat malnutrition by improving the level and diversity of domestic production.  The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation have recognized Indonesia for successfully reducing malnutrition from 20% to 9% in the past 14 years.

What can we do to combat malnutrition?

RESULTS Australia is committed to increasing the awareness of and action to improve nutrition to end poverty.  While the Nutrition for Growth Summit is a great step forward, more can be done.

The following actions can raise awareness of and call for action on malnutrition. These can be as simple as:

1. Send a tweet to your local MP about why nutrition is important to you and use the hashtag #nutrition4growth. Make sure you follow us on twitter and like us on facebook for all of the latest updates.
2. Write a letter about the importance of nutrition to your local newspaper or MP 
3. Visit our website for more information - www.results.org.au