A U.S. congressional hearing on March 25th highlighted the first 1,000 days of life--from conception to the second birthday--and the benefits of aid programs that focus on health and nutrition for women and children during this "critical window of opportunity". Entitled, "The First One Thousand Days: Development Aid Programs to Bolster Health and Nutrition", experts testified before the House Global Health Subcommittee on efforts to reduce malnutrition and improve health outcomes. Committee Chairman Rep. Chris Smith stated, "There is perhaps no wiser investment that we could make in the human person than to concentrate on ensuring that sufficient nutrition and health assistance is given during the first one thousand days of life."
In his opening statement Smith explained the critical need to focus on nutrition during this time period, "Children who do not receive adequate nutrition in utero are more likely to experience lifelong cognitive and physical deficiencies, such as stunting. UNICEF estimates that one in four children worldwide is stunted due to lack of adequate nutrition. Children who are chronically undernourished within the first two years of their lives also often have impaired immune systems that are incapable of protecting them against life-threatening ailments, such as pneumonia and malaria.
"Adults who were stunted as children face increased risk of developing chronic diseases, such as diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease. Mothers who were malnourished as girls are 40% more likely to die during childbirth, experience debilitating complications like obstetric fistula, and deliver children who perish before reaching age five," stated Smith.
Witnesses included personnel from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), World Vision, Food for the Hungry, and experts on public health and economic development.
Tjada D'Oyen McKenna, U.S. Acting Assistant to the Administrator with the Bureau for Food Security of USAID, testified on the impact of chronic malnutrition on stunting,
"New evidence shows that the effects of stunting are even more far reaching than we realized, with implications on many aspects of the lives of individual survivors and the countries they live in. Stunting leads to irreversible cognitive impairment and poor health over the lifespan." Stunting can also lead to diabetes, obesity, dementia and hypertension, lifelong diseases that could be prevented with proper care and nutrition.
Carolyn Wetzel Chen, Chief Grant Development Officer with Food for the Hungry told the committee: "Investing in the 1,000 day window of opportunity saves lives." Chen explained, "The period of time from a start of woman's pregnancy to her child's second birthday lays the foundation for a child's lifelong health, cognitive development and future potential. Investing in the 1,000 day window of opportunity saves lives." She noted 6.6 million children under five died in 2012, largely from preventable causes.
"Good nutrition is an essential foundation for health and development, yet malnutrition continues to be the world's most serious health problem and the single biggest contributor to child mortality," stated Lisa Bos of World Vision who noted that World Vision has made addressing malnutrition a top priority in its approach to improving maternal and child health.
Dr. Henry Perry, M.D., Ph.D., Sr. Associate, Dept. of International Health, Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University noted the great accomplishments made already in reducing maternal and child deaths and urged Congress to take further action, "I am here to urge the Congress to continue and in fact expand its support for research and programs that are geared to reducing readily preventable deaths among women and children, particularly during the first 1,000 days of life."
Sophia Aguirre, chair of Catholic University of America's Integral Economic Development Management Program, emphasized the importance of "placing the family at the center" of development solutions saying it helps to ensure "household food access, good health and hygiene conditions, as well as good care and health practices for infant and pregnant mothers". She stressed, "Healthy families are the key to providing stability during this early stage of life."
"We must take a holistic, mother-and-child approach to the problem," affirmed Rep. Smith who added that the survival of the child must never be pit against the survival of the mother, "as both are complimentary objectives". He added, "Curbing child mortality in the womb and at birth also goes hand-in-hand with reducing maternal mortality.Best practices to radically reduce maternal mortality can and must be life-affirming--protecting from harm both patients, the mother and the child in the womb."
The economic return on investing in the first 1,000 days was highlighted by Smith,"Political will is absolutely essential to address this problem and to make sure it is adequately resourced. It is one thing that I hope this hearing will bring to light, that such interventions in the first 1000 days of life is not only morally imperative but also cost-effective. One group of Nobel Laureate economic experts ranked efforts to address undernutrition as the single-most cost-effective investment in foreign aid. The economists concluded that each dollar spent on reducing undernutrition could yield a $30 benefit."
PNCI believes that the elimination of malnutrition during the first 1,000 days of life, and for adolescent girls and all women of child-bearing age, will not only save the lives of women and children and contribute to their well-being, but will improve the economic potential of countries and ought to be at the center of sustainable development.Healthy children become healthy adults who are better equipped to make meaningful contributions to their families, society and country.