Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Sustainable Development Goals cannot be achieved without improving maternal and child nutrition

Journal of Public Health Policy volume 38, pages 137–145 (2017)Cite this article

Abstract

Poor nutrition is a global pandemic with social, economic, and environmental causes and consequences. Of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), only SDG2 explicitly mentions nutrition. Turning the aspirations of the SDGs into reality will require recognition that good nutrition ensured through sustainable agriculture, is simultaneously an absolutely fundamental input and output. Because all of the other SDGs are directly or indirectly linked to improving nutrition, funding to improve nutrition is essential to success for many SDGs. Greater focus on cooperation across disciplines to advance the science of program delivery and to understand the full contribution of nutrition to many desirable outcomes as part of development are surely the ways forward. Missing today’s opportunities to advance thinking and program implementation for more effectively improving nutrition for all, especially for women and children, will lead to a wider failure to meet the SDGs.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

39,95 €

Price includes VAT (Finland)

References

  1. De Onis, M., Brown, D., Blossner, M. and Borghi, E. (2012) Levels and trends in child malnutrition. UNICEF-WHO-The World Bank joint child malnutrition estimates.

  2. Muthayya, S., Rah, J. H., Sugimoto, J. D., Roos, F. F., Kraemer, K., and Black, R. E. (2013) The global hidden hunger indices and maps: An advocacy tool for action. PLoS ONE, 8(6), e67860.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Black, R. E., Victora, C. G., Walker, S. P., Bhutta, Z. A., Christian, P., De Onis, M., et al. (2013) Maternal and child undernutrition and overweight in low-income and middle-income countries. The Lancet, 382(9890), 427–451.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Prado, E. L., and Dewey, K. G. (2014) Nutrition and brain development in early life. Nutrition Reviews, 72(4), 267–284.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Horton, S. and Steckel, R.H. (2013) Malnutrition: Global economic losses attributable to malnutrition 1900–2000 and projections to 2050. How Much Have Global Problems Cost the Earth? A Scorecard from 1900 to 2050:247–272.

  6. Stuckler, D., and Nestle, M. (2012) Big food, food systems, and global health. PLoS Medicine., 9(6), e1001242.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Food and Agriculture Organization. (2011) The State of the World’s Land and Water Resources for Food and Agriculture (SOLAW)—Managing Systems at Risk. Rome and Earthscan, London: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Hajer, M., Westhoek, H., Ozay, L., Ingram, J. and van Berkum, S. (2016) Food systems and natural resources. Report for the International Resource Panel. United Nations Environment Programme, Paris, France.

  9. Vermeulen, S. J., Campbell, B. M., and Ingram, J. S. (2012) Climate change and food systems. Annual Review of Environment and Resources, 37(1), 195.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Schlaudecker, E. P., Steinhoff, M. C., and Moore, S. R. (2011) Interactions of diarrhea, pneumonia, and malnutrition in childhood: Recent evidence from developing countries. Current opinion in infectious diseases, 24(5), 496–502.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Caulfield, L. E., de Onis, M., Blössner, M., and Black, R. E. (2004) Undernutrition as an underlying cause of child deaths associated with diarrhea, pneumonia, malaria, and measles. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 80(1), 193–198.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Katz, J., Lee, A. C., Kozuki, N., Lawn, J. E., Cousens, S., Blencowe, H., et al. (2013) Mortality risk in preterm and small-for-gestational-age infants in low-income and middle-income countries: A pooled country analysis. The Lancet, 382(9890), 417–425.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Sania, A., Spiegelman, D., Rich-Edwards, J., Hertzmark, E., Mwiru, R. S., Kisenge, R., et al. (2015) The contribution of preterm birth and intrauterine growth restriction to childhood undernutrition in Tanzania. Maternal & child nutrition, 11(4), 618–630.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Uauy, R., Kain, J., Mericq, V., Rojas, J., and Corvalán, C. (2008) Nutrition, child growth, and chronic disease prevention. Annals of Medicine, 40(1), 11–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Norris, S.A., Osmond, C., Gigante, D., Kuzawa, C.W., Ramakrishnan, L., Lee, N.R. et al. (2012) Size at birth, weight gain in infancy and childhood, and adult diabetes risk in five low-or middle-income country birth cohorts. Diabetes Care 35(1): 72–79.

  16. Catalano, P. (2015) Maternal obesity and metabolic risk to the offspring: why lifestyle interventions may have not achieved the desired outcomes. International Journal of Obesity,. doi:10.1038/ijo.2015.15.

    Google Scholar 

  17. Torheim, L.E. and Arimond, M. (2013) Diet quality, micronutrient intakes and economic vulnerability of women. Diet Quality: Springer, pp. 105–115.

  18. Domínguez-Cortinas, G., Cifuentes, E., Escobar, E. R., and Martínez, F. D.-B. (2012) Assessment of environmental health children’s population living in environmental injustice scenarios. Journal of Community Health, 37(6), 1199–1207.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Copenhagen Consensus. (2015) Post-2015 Concensus. [cited 2015 September 15]; Available from: http://www.copenhagenconsensus.com/sites/default/files/post-2015_consensus_outcome.pdf.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Food Science and Nutrition, College of Natural Sciences, Addis Ababa University, P.O. Box 1176, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

    Kaleab Baye

Authors
  1. Kaleab Baye
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kaleab Baye.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Baye, K. The Sustainable Development Goals cannot be achieved without improving maternal and child nutrition. J Public Health Pol 38, 137–145 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41271-016-0043-y

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41271-016-0043-y

Keywords

  • child nutrition
  • stunting
  • sustainable development
  • women
  • girls
  • health

Search

Navigation