Malnutrition is not just a social or developmental challenge — it has the potential to hold back global economies.
For instance, some countries with 30-50 percent stunting rates due to childhood malnutrition have seen their gross domestic product knocked down between 5 and 15 percent, according to Roger Thurow, a senior fellow on global agriculture and food policy at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.
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“There is a huge opportunity cost. What might a stunted child have contributed to all of us, to society if they weren’t stunted?” he said in a video interview with Devex.
Addressing food security is about more than hunger, Thurow emphasized, because many more people suffer from harmful micronutrient deficiencies — which are harder to detect.
Click on the above clip to find out more from this expert on the importance of nutrition to food security, especially in the first 1,000 days from pregnancy to a child’s second birthday.
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Feeding Development is an online conversation hosted by Devex in partnership with ACDI/VOCA, Chemonics, Fintrac, GAIN, Nestlé and Tetra Tech to reimagine solutions for a food-secure future from seed and soil to a healthy meal.
