On Tuesday 30 April 2024, GRET and AFD (Agence Française de Développement) held a conference in Paris on the role of local private businesses in the prevention of malnutrition. Brieuc Pont, the General Secretary of the Nutrition for Growth (N4G) summit, was in attendance. This was an opportunity to underline the fact that, with a view to this international summit, mobilisation of a multi-stakeholder coalition from all public and private sectors is necessary in order to place nutrition at the core of the sustainable development goals.
The triple scourge of malnutrition – undernutrition, micronutrient deficiencies and overweight/obesity – results from interaction between multiple factors such as inappropriate breastfeeding, eating, hygiene and healthcare practices, as well as from more profound causes. GRET focuses its actions on prevention by prioritising specific actions related to the direct causes of malnutrition (poor diet and inappropriate healthcare).
GRET has more than 30 years of experience supporting the local private sector in the fight against malnutrition. Together with its partners, it supported more than 45 businesses of all sizes in several countries and together with these businesses it developed 40 local preventive products for women and children. It also worked to widely distribute these affordable high-quality, fortified foods that are suited to target populations’ nutritional needs. In parallel, it works closely with national institutions on the environment in which these structures work, in order to facilitate their mobilisation while monitoring their action: support for the implementation of a legislative and regulatory framework, of campaigns on social communication for nutrition behaviour change, support for public nutrition policies…
GRET is convinced that supporting the production and marketing of low-cost, local fortified foods is an essential lever to sustainably improve populations’ diets, including those of the most vulnerable populations. But this must be done taking an integrated approach to nutrition, in relation with food systems and healthcare systems, through the promotion of sustainable local agriculture, strengthening of healthcare systems and of healthcare quality, and the provision of support to communities so that they can cope with climate change.
In the run-up to the N4G summit that will take place in Paris on 27 and 28 March 2025, GRET and its partners are also underlining the need to create continuity with commitments previously undertaken at the 2021 Tokyo summit, and to mobilise new financial and political commitments in favour of nutrition.
Learn more :
