1,000 Days & Partners Submit Statement for UN Meeting on Universal Health Coverage

1,000 Days joined the International Coalition for Advocacy on Nutrition (ICAN) to submit the following statement to the Multi-stakeholder Hearing for the UN High-Level Meeting on Universal Health Coverage held on April 29, 2019. The statement was delivered by WaterAid on behalf of the coalition. This statement has since been updated and delivered at the 72nd World Health Assembly; 1,000 Days and partners have signed on to show support as we head towards the UN High-Level Meeting on Universal Health Coverage

Preventing and treating malnutrition, especially during the first 1000 days, is a critical pathway to realising UHC. Affecting every third person, malnutrition and related NCDs underlie almost half of all child deaths, and 71% of global deaths.

Malnutrition disproportionately affects the poorest and most vulnerable, aggravating the intergenerational cycle of ill-health and poverty. Essential nutrition services like breastfeeding and dietary counselling, hygiene promotion, wasting treatment, and, vitamin and micronutrient supplementation promote development, reduce NCDs, and increase immunity and resiliency to infection. Investing in these high-impact, low-cost interventions will support the achievement of UHC.

We urge Member States to prioritise nutrition in the HLM outcome document as a determinant of UHC and commit to:

  • Integrate nutrition interventions and health promotion in PHC, focusing on the poorest and most marginalised, especially women and girls;
  • Train and support community health workers to deliver key nutrition services;
  • Ensure essential medicines include health products to prevent and treat malnutrition;
  • Allocate greater financing for and ownership of nutrition by health decision makers, in collaboration with other stakeholders including WASH, education, agriculture and social protection.