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“It is not just about getting children enough to eat; it is above all about getting them the right food to eat.’’
- Henrietta Fore, Former Executive Director of UNICEF

In a small health centre nestled in north-western Vietnam, 1-year-old Yêu sits with her bright, sparkling eyes and rosy cheeks. She carefully nibbles on a blend of peanuts, sugar, and milk powder – a nutrient-packed mixture known as ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF). To a casual observer, it might look like candy. But for Yêu, this is lifesaving medicine, prescribed three times a day to help her recover from severe wasting, the deadliest form of childhood malnutrition where a child is too thin for their height.

Her journey to this moment has been anything but easy. Her devoted parents, who gave her everything they had to eat, missed several days of work to care for her. They crossed rugged mountain paths to reach this clinic, desperate to save their child.

Yêu’s story is heartbreakingly common. Millions of children suffer from malnutrition driven by poverty, which robs families of access to nutritious food. The problem is compounded by preventable infections that thrive where vaccines are scarce and clean water is a luxury.

The ask: We call on Canada to #FeedOurFuture by committing $750 million in nutrition-specific funding over five years, at the Paris Nutrition for Growth Summit in March 2025.

Between 2000 and 2020, child mortality fell by 50%, largely thanks to vaccines. Vaccines prevented children from succumbing to infectious diseases and also made them healthier and stronger, enabling them to fight off malnutrition. Innovation also played a key role in making nutrients more accessible through fortified foods (where additional nutrients are added), vitamins, and effective agricultural methods. But it is the steady and increased international aid that allowed these solutions to reach children like Yêu, transforming their lives and providing hope for a healthier future.

Canada, a nutrition champion

Canada has a long history of leadership in nutrition:

• it consistently serves as the largest donor to vitamin A supplementation programs for over two decades, helping save the lives of over 7 million children.
• it is a lead donor to the global effort to help prevent iodine deficiency. Iodine deficiency can lead to thyroid problems, miscarriages, stillbirths, and mental impairment.
• it launched the Nutrition Year of Action in 2020, paving the way to its key contribution at the 2021 Tokyo Nutrition for Growth Summit with a pledge of $520 million towards nutrition programmes.
• it co-launched the Global Financing Facility (GFF) in 2015 and is a leading donor to this initiative that works to integrate nutrition into maternal and child health services.

global efforts to tackle malnutrition

In 2012, the world came together by setting targets to reduce malnutrition by 2025. As the deadline approaches most targets remain out of reach, leaving 148 million children stunted, 45 million wasted, and nearly half of child deaths under five linked to malnutrition.

Meeting Sustainable Development Goal 2 to end hunger and malnutrition by 2030 requires an estimated USD$ 176 billion—far less than the USD$ 761 billion annual cost of undernutrition to the global economy. We need to ramp up progress on malnutrition now and thankfully there is an opportunity on the horizon.

Every four years, the Nutrition for Growth Summit provides a platform for countries, companies and organizations to make financial and policy commitments to fight malnutrition. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau must take this opportunity to make a new bold pledge to combat malnutrition. This commitment should include resources for the Child Nutrition Fund, the first mechanism to focus on helping affected countries increase their resources to combat malnutrition and scale up the most effective solutions. A strong pledge will reaffirm Canada’s position as a global nutrition champion and will also encourage other countries to invest in ending this crisis.

Malnutrition is tragic because it is entirely preventable, with proven solutions already at our disposal. It is only with political will and adequate funding that we can end it and help ensure everyone can reach their potential.

latest campaign news

#ForOurFuture:  

• To make infant mortality a thing of the past, we need access not only to nutrition but also to vaccines! While we are beginning our work to ensure that Canada stands out as a leader at the Nutrition for Growth Summit, our campaign for a new commitment of at least $720 million to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance is not over yet! This is an opportunity to explain to your Members of Parliament that one can't go without the other and continue to work hard to ensure that the Government of Canada responds to the urgent call to invest in access to vaccines #ForOurFuture.
• Since July, Results Canada’s volunteers have been calling on Canada to support global efforts to eradicate polio by committing CAD$ 150 million per year to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative over the next three years. We are thrilled that Canada heard our call! On September 20th, Minister of International Development Ahmed Hussen reaffirmed Canada's commitment to eradicating polio, announcing $ 151 million — that's $1 million more than our ask! Thank you to all of you who advocated for this! Read more here.

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By equipping healthcare workers and empowering mothers in low- and middle-income countries, Canadian organizations are transforming lives and building stronger, healthier communities.

Read more here.

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Jahanar lives in Tongi, north of Dhaka. She is 7 months pregnant and has no access to a nutritious diet. However, like many of her colleagues at the garment factory, she still has to work. Before she started taking Multiple Micronutrient Supplements, she regularly experienced anemia symptoms and her child's life was at risk.