Advocacy

Acute malnutrition is a problem too great to ignore. Today, 55 million children under 5 years of age around the world are acutely malnourished. Over a third of these children, an estimated 19 million, suffer from the most severe form of acute malnutrition. Without treatment these children are at imminent risk of never achieving their full growth potential and ultimately of dying. Even though acute malnutrition can be prevented and treated successfully, only 3 percent of these children are receiving treatment. Solutions are known, tested and feasible.

Our advocacy is aimed at putting acute malnutrition high on international and national agendas.  Action Against Hunger works with the broader international community to ensure that decision-makers respond urgently to the problem by:

• Identifying priority countries/regions/zones for nutrition interventions
  
  
• Organising awareness campaigns which prioritise acute malnutrition diagnosis, treatment and prevention in health and agriculture agendas, policies and protocols
  
  
• Promoting effective coordination between major agencies/NGOs/researchers through a consortium of key actors who develop and guide advocacy for international food and nutrition policies and strategies
  
  
• Encouraging decision-makers to establish adequate, reliable funding sources for Community Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM), and for multi-sectoral actions to address hunger and acute malnutrition
  
  
• Advocating for the reduced cost, increased production and wider availability of Ready to Use Therapeutic Foods (RUTF) and other innovative nutritional products
  
  
• Driving a core Acute Malnutrition Advocacy Initiative (AMAI), outlining inputs and objectives both internally and in partnership with others, to raise awareness and intensify actions to resolve acute malnutrition.