Message from Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations, September 2011
One year ago, I joined a group of leaders in pledging to do more to address the global burden of under-nutrition. We set ourselves the ambitious target of substantially reducing under-nutrition during the most vulnerable 1,000-day period of a child’s life, from pregnancy to the age of two.
The need for such an initiative is abundantly clear. The food insecurity being faced by millions of people following prolonged drought in the Horn of Africa underscores the need to provide nutritional care and to support national authorities as they help vulnerable families realize their right to food, enjoy food and nutrition security, and resist the impact of climatic and other shocks.
Nineteen countries have joined the Movement for Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN), with others soon to follow. Hundreds of local, national and international stakeholders have come together to support them. The initiative is off to a good start.
I welcome SUN’s intent to focus on interventions that directly empower women and their households, and to encourage government policies – in particular those for agriculture, health, education, employment and social protection – to be sensitive to nutritional needs.
The UN system is committed to the SUN Movement and our shared work to support national efforts, promote multi-stakeholder action, help integrate the policies of different sectors, and advocate for nutrition internationally. Nutrition is strongly embedded in the work of my High Level Task Force for Food Security and the efforts of the Every Woman Every Child effort.
Many individuals, networks, governments, organizations, businesses and international bodies have worked hard to ensure the necessary synergy for the Movement to work, and I applaud those individual and collective contributions. For my part, I will continue to stay closely engaged in the SUN Movement and look forward to the impact it will have on our quest to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and truly sustainable development.
Ban Ki-moon,
United Nations Secretary-General
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Remarks to Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness - November 30, 2011