Invitation to an open discussion
on the political outcome document of the ICN
Comment Form
Personal information
Name: Lucy Sullivan, Executive Director
Organization: 1,000 Days Partnership
Location: Washington, DC, USA
Email: lucy@thousanddays.org
Additional contacts: jennifer@thousanddays.org, rebecca@thousanddays.org
1. Do you have any general comments on the draft political declaration and its
vision (paragraphs 1-3 of the zero draft)?
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the zero draft political outcome
document.
We applaud the inclusion of malnutrition in all its forms and believe that it is of
paramount importance to not only treat and prevent the occurrence of malnutrition but
also build sustainable food systems to ensure long-term impact.
Please consider the following comments for consideration:
A. Paragraph 1: Thank you for acknowledging the threat that malnutrition poses to
individual and societal well-being. However, we suggest that the paragraph be altered
to include an acknowledgment of the growing problem of obesity, the critical period
of development during the first two years of life, and the economic costs of
malnutrition. Please replace the paragraph with the following: “Acknowledge that
malnutrition poses one of the greatest threats to people’s health and well-being.
Malnutrition—undernourishment, micronutrient deficiencies, unbalance diets,
obesity—imposes unacceptably high costs on individuals, families and societies. In
particular, malnutrition early in life–from pregnancy through early
childhood—restricts the attainment of human potential, negatively impacts human
physical and cognitive development, and increases susceptibility to noncommunicable diseases. Malnutrition also impacts economic growth and
can cost a country as much as 11 percent of Gross Domestic Product.
B. Paragraph 2: Please replace the word “modest” with “insufficient” in the first
sentence so it reads: “Note, with profound concern, that recent decades have seen
insufficient and uneven progress in reducing malnutrition…”
Under bullet number 5: “about a third of all women suffer from anaemia,” please add
more on how this is linked not only to poor maternal nutrition but also to newborn
mortality, such as: “Poor maternal nutrition is a contributing factor to maternal,
infant and child mortality. Stunted mothers are more likely to give birth prematurely
and have an underweight baby, and fetal growth restriction is a cause of 800,000
deaths in the first month of life each year (Lancet).”
Please change bullet number 6 to read: “Obesity and overweight in children and
adults has dramatically increased and is projected to reach epidemic
proportions in the next several years. In addition, the incidence of noncommunicable diseases related to diet has been rising rapidly all over the world.”
2. Do you have any comments on the background and analysis provided in the
political declaration (paragraphs 4-20 of the zero draft)?
A. Paragraph 5: Thank you for recognizing that women and children have specific needs,
especially during particular phases of life. The consequences of malnutrition during
the critical 1,000 day “window of opportunity” from a woman’s pregnancy to her
child’s second birthday are irreversible, and can cause long-lasting damage. Maternal
nutrition and support are therefore crucial to break the intergenerational cycle of
malnutrition and build the foundations of healthy individuals and societies. We
suggest adding the following in bold:
5. Recognize that nutritional needs change over the life cycle, and certain groups,
including women and children, have specific needs, especially during particular
phases of life, including the 1,000 day window of opportunity from a
woman’s pregnancy to her child’s second birthday.
B. Paragraph 10: Please change the first line to read: “Acknowledge that food systems
must produce more nutritious food…”
C. Paragraph 18: Thank you for recognizing that a framework for collective
commitment, action and results is needed to reshape the global food system to
improve people’s nutrition. However, the sentence: “Governments should take
responsibility for leadership on nutrition,” should be expanded to include an
emphasis on the need to develop responsible food policies. We recommend
changing the sentence to: “Governments should take responsibility for
leadership on nutrition by developing food policies that at a minimum do
not harm people’s nutrition and ideally are aimed at improving
nutritional status.”
3. Do you have any comments on the commitments proposed in the political
declaration? In this connection, do you have any suggestions to contribute
to a more technical elaboration to guide action and implementation on
these commitments (paragraphs 21-23 of the zero draft)?
C. Paragraph 21: It is critical to make the commitments to action list more specific and
ambitious. We suggest the following commitments be added to the list:

We will ensure policies, investments and incentives that affect food systems
provide an enabling environment for the effective implementation of nutrition
policies and programs, including adopting a “do no harm” policy in order to
mitigate any negative externalities of food systems.

We commit to leveraging local food systems and engaging local populations to
support the adoption of sustainable and nutritious diets, including by establishing
markets for smallholder and family farmers, developing urban food systems to
meet the needs of the local population, leveraging traditional/indigenous crops,
and supporting women engaged in local and smallholder food production
systems.

We commit to accelerating progress to achieve the 2012 WHA nutrition targets at
national levels.

We commit to establishing (or enshrining, if already established) a multi-sectoral
coordination mechanism for nutrition to ensure that policy decisions are owned
by all relevant ministries and have domestic budget lines for nutrition; as well as
appoint a government nutrition focal point who is responsible for ensuring that
the country’s nutrition efforts effectively engage the whole of government and
external stakeholders.