1,000 Days Reacts to President’s Budget Request
Today, President Obama released his budget request for fiscal year 2017. Below is the reaction from Lucy Sullivan, 1,000 Days’ Executive Director:
We are deeply disappointed by the Obama Administration’s final budget request for fiscal year 2017 (FY17) of $108.5 million for nutrition within the Global Health Programs Account. When 45 percent of child deaths are a result of malnutrition, it is unconscionable that the administration continues to under-invest in critical, life-saving nutrition programs.
Moreover, the FY17 request for nutrition is inconsistent with the Administration’s stated priorities. Nutrition investments are core to the success of the U.S. government’s two flagship initiatives – Ending Preventable Child and Maternal Deaths and Feed the Future. Without greater investment in nutrition, the U.S. government will continue to fall short of its development aims and will be unable to fulfill the vision it so thoughtfully laid out in the USAID Multi-Sectoral Nutrition Strategy.
The Administration’s FY17 request is particularly disheartening in light of the fact that the government of Brazil will be convening world leaders later this year on the eve of the Olympic games in an effort to ensure new commitments are made to put the world on track to meet the agreed-upon global goals to tackle malnutrition. U.S. government leadership at this summit is more critical than ever and sorely needed in order to mobilize new domestic and donor resources for nutrition.