Effective international action against undernutrition:
why has it proven so difficult and what can be done to accelerate progress?

Saul S Morris, Bruce Cogill and Ricardo Uauy for the Maternal and Child Undernutrition Study Group Members

The Lancet, Volume 371, Number 9612, 16 February 2008

Available online at: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS014067360761695X/fulltext

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“…..Many transnational organisations work to support efforts to eliminate maternal and child undernutrition in high-burden countries. Financial, intellectual, and personal linkages bind these organisations loosely together as components of an international nutrition system. In this paper, we argue that such a system should deliver in four functional areas: stewardship, mobilisation of financial resources, direct provision of nutrition services at times of natural disaster or conflict, and human and institutional resource strengthening. We review quantitative and qualitative data from various sources to assess the performance of the system in each of these areas, and find substantial shortcomings.

Fragmentation, lack of an evidence base for prioritised action, institutional inertia, and failure to join up with promising developments in parallel sectors are recurrent themes. Many of these weaknesses can be attributed to systemic problems affecting most organisations working in the field; these are analysed using a problem tree approach. We also make recommendations to overcome some of the most important problems, and we propose five priority actions for the development of a new international architecture….”

Maternal and child undernutrition: effective action at national level

Jennifer Bryce, Denise Coitinho, Ian Darnton-Hill, David Pelletier, Per Pinstrup-Andersen

The Lancet,  Volume 371, Number 9611, 9 February 2008

Available at: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140673607616948/fulltext

What works? Interventions for maternal and child undernutrition and survival

Zulfiqar A Bhutta,  Tahmeed Ahmed,    Robert E Black,   Simon Cousens  Kathryn Dewey, Elsa Giugliani,   Batool A Haider ,  Betty Kirkwood,   Saul S Morris,  HPS Sachdev   and   Meera Shekar

The Lancet, Volume 371, Number 9610, 2 February 2008

Full text available online at: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140673607616936/fulltext

Maternal and child undernutrition: consequences for adult health and human capital

Cesar G Victora, Linda Adair, Caroline Fall, Pedro C Hallal,  Reynaldo Martorell, Linda Richter, Harshpal Singh Sachdev
The Lancet, Volume 371, Number 9609, 26 January 2008

Available online at; http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140673607616924/fulltext

Maternal and child undernutrition: global and regional exposures and health consequences

Robert E Black, Lindsay H Allen,  Zulfiqar A Bhutta, Laura E Caulfield, Mercedes de Onis, Majid Ezzati, Colin Mathers, Juan Rivera
The Lancet,  Volume 371, Number 9608, 19 January 2008

Available online at: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140673607616900/fulltext