| While world hunger gets more attention, worldwide malnutrition may be just as important to increasing the quality of life for developing nations. Poor nutrition has impacts not only on direct health, but also on issues of HIV/AIDS, maternal care, education, and gender equity. To address this important but obscured issue, the InfoShop and the World Bank Human Development Network launched “Repositioning Nutrition as Central to Development: A Strategy for Large-Scale Action” on January 30, 2006, at the World Bank’s Washington, D.C. headquarters. The program was chaired by Jean-Louis Sarbib, Vice President of the Human Development Network.
Meera Shekar, Senior Health Specialist for the World Bank, spoke on the role that nutrition could play in fulfilling the Millennium Development Goals, specifically nonincome poverty. Malnutrition is a serious problem for the poor, but it cuts across income levels and should be the focus of more development efforts, said Shekar. Five responses were then offered to Shekar’s presentation. Richard Skolnik, from the Harvard School of Public Health, commented on the Bank’s slow response to the longstanding nutrition problem. Julian Schweitzer, Sector Director for Human Development for the Bank, noted the importance of focusing on malnutrition in children younger than three years old. Marcia Griffiths, President of the Manoff Group, also commented on the book’s policy-making aspects. Keith Hansen, Sector Manager for Health, Nutrition, and Population in the Bank’s Latin America and Caribbean region, discussed the urgency of nutrition as a development priority contrasted to the ease of its solutions. James Adams, Vice President of Operations Policy for the Bank, provided a view of how the Bank might realistically implement programs for nutrition. A short question and answer session followed the panelists’ responses.
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