That the House of Representatives—
reaffirms that—
food security and good nutrition in early childhood saves lives and lays the foundation for healthy physical and cognitive growth and development;
the potential benefit of good nutrition is life-long and influences a child’s entire future, with entire communities and nations ultimately prospering;
the right nutrition helps children learn, helps protect them from illness, increases their productivity and earning potential, and supports the well-being and health of their future offspring; and
women who are well-nourished and do not suffer from anemia are less likely to die in childbirth and to give birth to children who are malnourished, breaking the intergenerational cycle of malnutrition;
reaffirms that—
good nutrition is also an economic issue central to reducing poverty and putting countries on path to economic development;
adults who were well-nourished as children earn up to 46 percent more than those who were malnourished;
countries with a very high burden of early childhood malnutrition have lower economic growth rates due to lost income and productivity; and
the cost to nations is substantial with Gross Domestic Product (GDP) losses estimated between 3 to 16 percent with overall potential impacts to the global economy as high as $3.5 trillion per year;
supports United States leadership in helping developing countries meet the nutritional needs of women and children, and supports continued efforts;
supports United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) recognition that nutrition interventions are among the lifesaving interventions that can have the greatest impact in ending preventable child and maternal deaths;
supports the use of the USAID Multi-Sectoral Nutrition Strategy, the United States Government Global Nutrition Coordination Plan, and the Global Food Security Strategy as platforms through which to help reach global nutrition targets by 2025, as agreed to at the World Health Assembly in 2012;
acknowledges the vision and goals of the Scaling Up Nutrition movement as a global partnership to support country-led efforts to improve maternal and child nutrition involving governments, civil society, the United Nations, donors, businesses, and researchers;
acknowledges that progress against global malnutrition must be accelerated using innovative, scaled-up approaches to improve the systems that affect the nutritional status of women and children; and
calls for transformative efforts across sectors at USAID—
to accelerate progress to end maternal and child malnutrition, including through Country Development Cooperation Strategies that align with country’s national nutrition plans; and
to include improved and clear methods to track nutrition funding and outcomes across all United States Government global nutrition programs, especially those in global health, food security, agriculture, basic education, food assistance, and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH).