The U.K. government has reversed its decision not to commit any spending to global nutrition, after being the only major donor not to pledge funds at the Nutrition for Growth Summit in December.
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But the U.K.’s nutrition spending commitment was still less than previous years, and the government failed to renew a 2015 target to reach 50 million people, which it previously exceeded, with nutrition programs over the next five years.
“In the next 8 years [the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office] will invest £1.5bn [$2.04 billion] on tackling global malnutrition,” tweeted FCDO Minister for Asia Amanda Milling on Wednesday.
She added: “The UK is committed to ending the preventable deaths of mothers, children and babies by 2030. That's why with partners [Nutrition for Growth] we've pledged to make nutrition key to our wider work.”
The British government is estimated to have spent between £2.6 billion and £5 billion on nutrition between 2013 and 2020.
Nutrition for Growth garners $27B in commitments
Nutrition for Growth saw pledges from 66 governments to increase progress on eliminating malnutrition.
Simon Bishop, CEO at The Power of Nutrition, welcomed the announcement and said in a statement that it was “extremely positive compared to their failure to make any financial commitment at the main N4G Summit in Tokyo in December 2021, which not just disappointed us but also many of Britain’s key partners and allies.”
He added: “This commitment secures better nutrition for millions of the world’s most vulnerable children, adolescents and women and for that we are very grateful.”
But Results UK, a group that also campaigns for improved global nutrition, wrote: “The financial commitment, while welcome, marks a significant reduction in funding for nutrition programmes compared with previous commitments and with what FCDO spent for nutrition between 2013 and 2020. If maintained, this funding level effectively confirms and maintains the disproportionate cuts to nutrition spending made in 2021.”
The world’s nutrition needs are “unprecedented” according to Bishop, with 149 million children stunted, meaning they are abnormally short for their age, and 45 million children wasted, or abnormally thin for their height. He estimated a $10.8 billion funding gap remaining for the next eight years and called on the U.K. government to increase nutrition spending when the aid budget returned to 0.7% of national income.
FCDO has been approached for comment.
About the author
William Worley@willrworley
Will Worley is the Climate Correspondent for Devex, covering the intersection of development and climate change. He previously worked as UK Correspondent, reporting on the FCDO and British aid policy during a time of seismic reforms. Will’s extensive reporting on the UK aid cuts saw him shortlisted for ‘Specialist Journalist of the Year’ in 2021 by the British Journalism Awards. He can be reached at william.worley@devex.com.
