Analysis paper on Nutrition and health in women, children, and adolescent girls

Improving nutrition throughout the life course. WHO Essential Nutrition Actions; improving maternal, newborn, infant and young child health and nutrition. 2013.

In September 2015, an analysis paper was released on Nutrition and health in women, children, and adolescent girls. It calls on urgent action to tackle malnutrition in all forms to help nutrition unlock the potential of investment in the health of women, children and adolescents. The paper highlights nutrition related priority actions based on existing policy guidance issued by the World Health Assembly in the form of resolutions or targets.

The paper was authored by Francesco Branca, director of nutrition at the World Health Organisation and a member of the SUN Movement Lead Group, Ellen Piwoz, senior program officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Werner Schultink, chief of nutrition at UNICEF and Lucy Sullivan, executive director at Thousand Days.

The vast majority of recommendations proposed in the paper were agreed by the 162 member states attending the Second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2) in Rome in 2014. The recommendations are grouped as;

• Actions to improve adolescent girls’ nutrition
• Actions to improve child nutrition
• Actions to improve women’s nutrition

The paper states that the targeted recommendations must be supported by nutrition interventions throughout the life course (as identified in the ICN2 Framework for Action).

“The potential human, societal, and economic gains from turning these commitments into action are substantial, and the costs of inaction are high. The time is right to tackle malnutrition in all forms at all ages and to break its intergenerational cycle.”

Read the analysis paper Nutrition and health in women, children, and adolescent girls

Learn more about the Second International Conference on Nutrition ICN2