IV 
113TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 254 
Recognizing the importance of United States leadership in addressing the 
challenge of global maternal and child malnutrition. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 11, 2013 
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (for herself and Mr. DIAZ-BALART) submitted the 
following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 
RESOLUTION 
Recognizing the importance of United States leadership in 
addressing the challenge of global maternal and child 
malnutrition. 
Whereas the United States and other partners contributed to 
reducing child deaths from 12,000,000 in 1990 to 
6,900,000 in 2011, and supported efforts to end prevent-
able child deaths, and pledged to end preventable child 
deaths within a generation; 
Whereas food security and nutrition is foundational for 
human development, and persistent hunger and malnutri-
tion stunts the mental and physical development of the 
next generation and hinders education, health, economics, 
and security; 
Whereas scaling up nutrition interventions can help reduce 
poverty, improve educational attainment, and improve 
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lifetime earnings, and economic productivity, increasing a 
country’s gross domestic product (GDP) by as much as 
3 percent annually; 
Whereas leading Nobel Laureate economists have rec-
ommended that addressing hunger and malnutrition 
among young children should be the top priority for pol-
icymakers, identifying nutrition as the smartest invest-
ment with every $1 invested in nutrition generating as 
much as $138 in better health and increased produc-
tivity; 
Whereas reducing maternal and child malnutrition, especially 
in the critical 1,000 days between pregnancy and age 2, 
is critical to increasing child survival, improving cognitive 
and physical development, strengthening the immune sys-
tem to bolster resistance to disease, and breaking the 
cycle of poverty; 
Whereas nearly 850,000,000 people are chronically under-
nourished today, a condition that is responsible, directly 
or indirectly, for 45 percent of the 6,900,000 deaths 
among children under the age of 5 annually; 
Whereas additionally, 11 percent of global disease burden is 
attributable to maternal and child under-nutrition; 
Whereas a growing evidence base shows 1 in 4 of the world’s 
children is stunted and in developing countries this can 
rise to 1 in 3; 
Whereas 80 percent of the world’s stunted children live in 
just 14 countries; 
Whereas stunting leads to long-term poor health, impaired 
brain development, and decreased immunity; 
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Whereas 2,000,000,000 people are deficient in key vitamins 
and minerals, and over 165,000,000 children under the 
age of 5 are stunted as a result of malnutrition; 
Whereas nutrition is essential for food security, and the ongo-
ing need to improve the nutritional quality of United 
States food assistance, particularly for vulnerable groups 
such as pregnant and lactating mothers and young chil-
dren, with a focus on the cost-effective 1,000 days be-
tween pregnancy and age 2; 
Whereas nearly 870,000,000 people worldwide suffer from 
food insecurity; 
Whereas food insecurity in developing countries forces tens of 
millions of people into poverty, contributes to political 
and social instability, erodes economic growth, and under-
mines United States foreign assistance investments in 
areas including basic education, global health, environ-
mental protection, and democratic institutions; 
Whereas the United States plays a lead role in supporting 
Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN), a global movement of 40 
governments, civil societies, international organizations, 
development partners, researchers, and businesses in a 
collective effort to prioritize malnutrition, particularly 
during the 1,000 day window of opportunity between a 
mother’s pregnancy and her child’s second birthday, 
through effective policy, program implementation, and 
aligned support for national, costed nutrition plans, and 
dedicated national resources by the host countries; 
Whereas the United States, along with Ireland and other do-
nors and partners, endorsed a call to action in September 
2010 at ‘‘1,000 Days: Change a Life, Change the Fu-
ture’’ and launched the 1,000 Days partnership to stimu-
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late international and national leadership to respond with 
urgency to the nutrition challenge in support of country 
requests for improved collaboration through alliances and 
partnership; 
Whereas the United States committed to reducing under-nu-
trition by 20 percent in the targeted zones of the 19 
Feed the Future Focus countries and the Global Health 
Initiative countries by 2015, while also aiming to end 
preventable child deaths; 
Whereas country-led progress to adopt evidence-based policies 
to improve nutrition and reduce stunting has been docu-
mented, such as in Ethiopia where the rate of stunting 
among children under 5 decreased between 2000 and 
2011 from 57 percent to 44 percent through a strong 
safety net program and a comprehensive nutrition plan to 
scale up community nutrition programs, micronutrient 
supplementation, and promotion of optimal infant and 
young child feeding; and 
Whereas the Nutrition for Growth conference taking place on 
June 8, 2013, in London, England, is an important op-
portunity to continue collaboration and forge new part-
nerships to address malnutrition: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) recognizes the Scaling Up Nutrition move-
ment as a global partnership to support country-led 
efforts to improve maternal and child nutrition in-
volving governments, civil society, international orga-
nizations, donors, businesses, and researchers; 
(2) supports United States leadership to scale 
up nutrition and improve nutrition outcomes for 
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pregnant and lactating women and young children, 
and support the Scaling Up Nutrition movement and 
the 1,000 Days partnership, which promotes tar-
geted action and investment to improve nutrition for 
mothers and children in the 1,000 days between a 
woman’s pregnancy and her child’s second birthday; 
and 
(3) calls on relevant Federal agencies, including 
the United States Agency for International Develop-
ment, Department of State, Office of the Global 
AIDS Coordinator, Department of Agriculture, De-
partment of the Treasury, and Millennium Challenge 
Corporation to consider developing a nutrition strat-
egy to further ongoing coordination efforts to im-
prove indicators to track nutrition funding and out-
comes across United States Government global nu-
trition programs, especially those in health, food se-
curity, agriculture development, food aid, and water, 
sanitation, and hygiene. 
Æ 
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