From: Matthew Pope
Greenfield
Each year, malnutrition accounts for nearly half of all deaths among children under the age of 5. Nearly a quarter of the world’s children are stunted due to malnutrition, leading to long-term poor health and impaired brain development.
The 1,000 days stretching from the start of a mother’s pregnancy until her child turns 2 is critical to increasing child survival, strengthening the immune system to bolster resistance to disease and improving the child’s ability to grow, learn and live to their fullest potential. Investments that focus on the first years of a child’s life are among the best and most cost-effective investments that can be made to help achieve lasting progress in global health, economic prosperity and development.
To that end, it is my hope, the hope of many volunteer advocates across the nation with groups such as RESULTS, and the hope of those who do not have a platform for their voice to be heard, that all of our state’s congressman and senators express their support for global maternal and child nutrition by co-sponsoring House Resolution 189 (Congress) and Senate Resolution 260 (Senate). These important resolutions recognize the importance of U.S. leadership to improve maternal and child nutrition, support accelerating progress on nutrition and improved nutrition outcomes for mothers and children with an emphasis on the 1,000 days mentioned before, and calls on USAID to accelerate progress to end maternal and child malnutrition.
While the U.S. government has a strong bipartisan legacy of leadership on maternal and child nutrition, there is still much more work to be done. Some of our elected officials are already leading the way on this work. U.S. Rep. Greg Greg Pence joined colleagues Andre Carson, Susan Brooks and Jackie Walorski in Congress as a co-sponsor of this important bi-partisan endeavor just (last) week. In additional to these representatives, U.S. Sen. Todd Young was an original co-sponsor of the Senate resolution mentioned above. With their leadership and the support of everyday citizens, we can improve the lives of millions of women and children around the world.
People should encourage their elected officials to join those across the nation already supporting these global nutrition endeavors, and take a moment out of their day to thank their elected officials.
