Solving malnutrition: Public money for public problems

The global community must all get involved with tackling malnutrition, but those who pin their hopes on the private sector will have their expectations “tremendously dashed in the future,” Bjørn Lomborg, director of the Copenhagen Consensus Center, told Devex at the #FutureFortified Global Summit in Arusha, Tanzania. “Everybody talks about how the private sector is going to contribute the billions to all these great things — not just nutrition — that we want to see happen,” he said. “Of course they’re not going to do that — they’re in the business of mostly making money.” While it’s important to secure the involvement of the private sector, Lomborg asserted that public money must be spent to solve a public problem like malnutrition. And how do we convince those currently on the margins to play a bigger role? By telling them it is one of the “best investments in the world.” Watch the above clip for more from Lomborg, including why he thinks improving implementation of government policies is a great strategy to improve nutrition at scale. Future Fortified is a special online series presented by Devex, in partnership with GAIN, exploring the impact and importance of food fortification to meet global development objectives. Visit the campaign site and join the conversation using #FutureFortified.