Malnutrition Impacts Millions of Young Children. Who's Funding a New Effort to Stop It?

A myriad of shocks to the global food system, including the war in the Ukraine, climbing inflation, the after-effects of COVID-19, and a growing climate crisis, have supercharged the threat of a global food security catastrophe.

The casualties will be among the world’s most vulnerable people, and especially the young. Nearly half of all deaths among children under age five can be chalked up to malnutrition, especially in low- and middle-income countries. Yet only 1% of development assistance accrues to issues like wasting, stunting and vitamin deficiencies.

Recently, five private and public funders combined resources to commit $250 million to mitigate wasting, a low-body-weight condition that’s the deadliest form of malnutrition for children. Based on a barometer of height, nearly 45 million youth are impacted each year. Will Moore, CEO of the Eleanor Crook Foundation explained that “when a child is wasted, their body is so starved of nutrients that it literally begins to consume itself. Food is no longer an option.”

Yet the condition is treatable — and for less than $1 a day. A straightforward solution exists in ready-to-use therapeutic food, or RUTF, pre-packaged portions of peanuts, milk powder and micronutrients. According to USAID Administrator Samantha Power, the sustained use of three packets a day for just six weeks can help up to 90% of severely malnourished youth recover from wasting instead of wasting away. The problem comes down to getting supply chains rolling, and the products into the hands of waiting parents and clinics.

Four private funders — the Eleanor Crook Foundation, the ELMA Relief Foundation, the CRI Foundation, and the philanthropist Sir Chris Hohn — recently committed a combined $50 million to combat wasting, and announced plans to raise $50 million more. They were joined by a historic $200 million commitment from USAID through UNICEF that brought the total to $250 million.

Here’s more on a solution in search of like-minded donors, and the grantmakers’ concerted efforts to boost the philanthropic response to $100 million.

A range of private investors

Private sector support came from all sides — family and private foundations, and an individual donor.

One participant, the Eleanor Crook Foundation, a family foundation, is an acknowledged leader in the fight against global malnutrition. ECF works on all cylinders to combat malnutrition: research, policy analysis, advocacy — and, of course, grantmaking.

Another partner is the Boston-based CRI Foundation, a private foundation that mostly works with NGOs that strengthen global health and nutrition or systems change. CRI typically funds evidence-based, cost-effective programs that serve the “un-served.” It characterized procuring RUTF for use on the ground as “a perfect example of the kind of opportunity” it funds, “a cost-effective, grossly underutilized tool that will bring severely malnourished babies and small children back to health.”

The CRI team also considers the counterfactual when making decisions — that is, what would happen in the absence of a program? In this case, though, it found that the “counterfactual is the decades-long status quo.… We have the solution right in front of us. What we need to do is to write a check.”

The ELMA Relief Foundation, one of the group of philanthropies founded by music producer Clive Calder, also stepped up. Its work is typically global in nature, with a specific focus on Africa. Generally speaking, this contribution aligns with its focus on engaging larger global humanitarian organizations.

Sir Chris Hohn is also a donor. A 2013 signatory of the Giving Pledge, Hohn chairs the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, or (CIFF), one of the world’s largest philanthropies to zero in on helping children. Hohn’s commitment was made as a private philanthropist, and is in addition to CIFF’s substantial wasting prevention and treatment portfolio.

In a statement, Hohn emphasized the way the agreement leverages the alignment between humanitarian aid, international development organizations and private philanthropies to catalyze progress on “one of the world’s most tragic and longstanding emergencies.”

Public sector engagement

The political will is there. When announcing USAID’s support, Power said that “extraordinary times… call for extraordinary measures.” The $200 million commitment to eradicating wasting is the single largest sum put toward malnutrition in the international development agency’s history. Funding though UNICEF will support the sourcing and distribution of RUTF for up to 2.4 million severely malnourished children in places like the Horn of Africa.

Building blocks

The coalition builds on other collective action that can be traced to a meeting on the margins of the 2017 Global Nutrition Summit. It launched work on the U.N. Decade of Action on Nutrition, by prompting new and measurable movement toward goals.

And in December 2021, Stronger Foundations for Nutrition created a new community of private funders that’s focused on financing the nutrition agenda — drawing stalwarts like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and new partners like Rotary International. By year-end, Stronger Foundations had built a coalition that collectively represents $1 billion in commitments.

Stepping up

The funders that collectively raised $50 million are calling on others to bring additional resources to the fight, and making treatment available to any child who needs it. Their new goal doubles the first effort, at $100 million.

While a stretch, that pales in comparison to the bigger picture. In the lead-up to the 2022 U.N. General Assembly in September, Power says USAID is actively encouraging other bilateral donors, corporations and governments to step up, targeting a half-billion in public-private support.

Will Moore said, “For the first time in history, we will reach the majority of severely wasted children with the lifesaving support they need. While many problems in the world will take decades to solve sustainably, ending child deaths from wasting is not one of them. This is something we can do now.”

Moore said mobilization is now in full swing, and that the partners have already identified at least $50 million in additional soft commitments. “This first commitment is just a start. We need more private donors and more governments to come together between now and September and help develop a longer-term plan to ensure RUTF coverage is maintained.”

Interested donors can contact info@eleanorcrookfoundation.org.

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