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With the lighting of the Olympic torch today, we’re igniting a different kind of movement. We’re teaming up with athletes and partners – including Athletes for Hope, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and many others – to shine a light on the issue of malnutrition around the world.

More than 100 Olympic athletes – past, present and hopefuls – are joining 1,000 Days and demanding that this Olympics, world leaders give kids everywhere a #FAIRSTART in life by starting the race to end malnutrition.

So why is nutrition the issue that these Olympic athletes are choosing to highlight at such a critical time? They know better than anyone that in life – as in sports – how you finish is largely determined by how you start. They are at the culmination of a lifetime of preparation and training that started with access to basic nutrition in their first 1,000 days of life.  And this has played a role in getting them to where they are today.

The health and development benefits a child receives in this critical 1,000 day window from a woman’s pregnancy through her child’s second birthday can never be lost, nor can they be regained if the window is missed.

Unfortunately, too many kids throughout the world start out life at a big disadvantage due to malnutrition. Almost 50% of all childhood deaths are a result of malnutrition. And 25% of all children are robbed of the chance to reach their full potential.

Athletes and supporters around the world are using the Olympic stage to highlight this incredible opportunity to ensure that children everywhere are given a #FAIRSTART to reach their own full potential in life—whether that takes them to the Olympics or just to other incredible heights, they all deserve the opportunity to be put on the right track.

We’re asking fans, parents and supporters everywhere to sign the petition urging world leaders to start race to end malnutrition this Olympics. Together we can give kids everywhere the #FAIRSTART they deserve!

You can help by signing the petition and sharing it with your friends.

The scale of malnutrition can be overwhelming. Every year it kills over 3 million children under the age of 5 and leaves another 159 million stunted. Yet, the world holds the solutions to prevent malnutrition. When individuals, communities and organizations come together to focus their efforts on improving nutrition, women are healthier, children can survive and thrive, and nations can prosper.

Here are five examples of how investments in maternal and child nutrition are working:

1. Parents in Zambia are uniting to reduce malnutrition. World Vision’s Christina Bradic shows the power of communities to improve nutrition education.

2. Vietnam triples its breastfeeding rates in just 5 years. 1,000 Days’ Lucy Sullivan lays out what the U.S. and others can learn from investing in breastfeeding promotion and support.

3. Women and girls are key to ending intergenerational cycles of malnutrition and poverty. ONE’s Tom Hart makes the case for what’s needed to break the cycle of poverty and malnutrition.

4. Maternal nutrition saves lives. Save the Children’s Mark Shriver shares how countries can save the lives of moms and babies by investing in maternal nutrition.

5. Good nutrition fuels a country’s economy. WFP USA’s Allan Jury explains what countries need to do to capitalize on these economic opportunities.

Clearly we know what works, and we can see the powerful results when we invest in maternal and child nutrition.

This August, world leaders will gather in Brazil to commit to ending malnutrition as part of the Nutrition for Growth summit. It is essential that countries come to the table with strong pledges, for this is an opportunity to build healthier and more prosperous futures for all.

This week 1,000 Days and our partners came together on Capitol Hill to tell Congress why 2016 is the year to invest in global nutrition and reinforce the critical importance of U.S. government leadership to bring an end to malnutrition in all its forms. We met with 15 Congressional offices, including both Democrats and Republicans.

This year is nutrition’s “Olympic moment” as world leaders will gather on the eve of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil at the Nutrition for Growth summit to make bold commitments towards ending malnutrition. While malnutrition early in life leaves one in four children physically and developmentally stunted—an irreversible condition that limits a child’s ability to grow, learn, and thrive—only a small fraction of the funding for global health programs goes to the proven, life-saving nutrition programs that children need.

Now is the time for governments to prioritize the health and well-being of the world’s youngest children by investing in nutrition.

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. As we made clear to policymakers this week, the United States is poised to make a gold-medal pledge at Nutrition for Growth, but we need their support and action to make this a reality.

Meeting with Representative Renee Ellmers (R-NC)

Today, nearly half of child deaths under the age of 5 are due to malnutrition, claiming the lives of nearly 3 million children every year. If the U.S. government increases funding, it can prevent millions of women and children from suffering the plight of malnutrition and not reaching their full potential.

Now is the time for the U.S. to invest in nutrition and transform the lives of women, children and entire communities. Join us this month as we #March4Nutrition!

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.  

Last September 1,000 Days launched a petition on Facebook urging Congress to get with the (paid) leave program. And Americans responded in record breaking numbers!

On Thursday, February 4, 1,000 Days and our friends at the National Partnership for Women & Families had the honor of delivering over 230,000 petition signatures from all 50 states to Congress.

In the United States, too many parents are forced to choose between the jobs that they need and the families that they love.

The U.S. is the only industrialized country without a national paid leave policy, so perhaps it’s not surprising that we’re also a country with low breastfeeding rates and high infant mortality rates. There is a strong correlation between access to paid leave and the length of time a mother is able to successfully breastfeed, the best source of nourishment and immunity for babies. In addition, paid family leave has shown to reduce infant mortality by as much as 20 percent. Yet less than half of new moms in the U.S. have access to paid leave. In fact, one in four women are going back to work just TWO weeks after giving birth!

This is a real life issue for many Americans—many of whom shared their personal experience around paid leave with us. Stories of moms who are forced to leave their babies while still in the NICU, or women who must return to work just days after giving birth despite their bodies not having recovered, or dads who must choose between caring for their wives and newborn babies or their jobs—all simply because the U.S. does not have a paid family leave program.

Let’s keep building  MOMentum for paid leave

In a recent poll by the National Partnership for Women & Families, 79 percent of Americans say they support paid family leave. Yet, the Family And Medical Insurance Leave Act (FAMILY Act) is stalled in Congress. That’s why 1,000 Days and the National Partnership made sure that American’s voices were heard throughout the halls of Congress.

The momentum for paid family leave is growing—three states have paid family leave policies, companies like Amazon and Facebook are ramping up their policies, and presidential candidates are talking about the issue. But we need to keep up the fight in 2016 and beyond!

Most parents will agree that pregnancy and a child’s first two years of life can feel downright magical. It’s a time marked by love, joy and growth beyond compare. But even more than that, those first 1,000 days (9 months of pregnancy + two years) represent an unparalleled opportunity to set a foundation for life-long health and wellbeing—simply by eating right.

The long-term benefits of a healthy 1,000-day window can’t be underemphasized. For starters, during pregnancy, a well-balanced nutritious diet promotes optimal development of babies’ rapidly growing brains (by birth, a baby’s brain will contain 100 billion neurons!) and sets the stage for healthy food preferences (incredibly, babies’ senses of smell and taste begin to develop during the first trimester, which means all the early “tasting” a baby does in utero will influence his food preferences later on).

Once born, breastmilk is a veritable superfood for babies—which is why the American Academy of Pediatrics and World Health Organization recommend exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months—and serves as the first immunization against disease and illness. And introducing nutrients from a variety of wholesome foods starting at age 6 months through toddlerhood ensures healthy growth and aids in obesity prevention.

But the benefits of healthy eating don’t end once a child turns two. To the contrary, the impact of good nutrition early in life can reach far into the future. Children who get the right nutrition in their first 1,000 days are ten times more likely to overcome life-threatening childhood diseases, complete nearly five more grades in school, go on to earn 21% more in wages as adults and are more likely to have healthier families of their own.

On an individual level, these benefits can be life altering. Collectively, they can change the world. Evidence shows that the right nutrition in this critical window of time saves more than 1 million lives each year, reduces the risk for developing diseases like diabetes, and increases a country’s GDP by as much as 11 percent year over year!

These statistics are so much more than just numbers. They represent the potential that can be unlocked with one of life’s most basic resources: food. Investing in better nutrition in the 1,000-day window can help families, communities and countries rise out of poverty, thereby shaping a society’s long-term health, stability and prosperity.

This is why we emphasize proper nutrition in the first 1,000 days; it’s the key to long lasting health and development. Without it, lives are lost and diseases flourish—and moms and babies everywhere deserve better.

Maureen Shaw is a writer, editor and proud mama who has dedicated the better part of the past decade to volunteering and working with NGOs and nonprofits. Her writing has been featured widely online, including sherights.com (which she founded in 2011), The Huffington Post, Mic.com, Feministing, Jezebel and more. Maureen holds a Master’s of Arts in Human Rights from Columbia University. You can follow her on Twitter at @MaureenShaw.

Breastfeeding is a powerful life-saver.  It is also a critical to the long term health and well-being of both mother and child.

Unfortunately, the majority of world’s mothers are not able to optimally breastfeed their children. In fact, just 38% of infants are exclusively breastfed in the first six months and suboptimal breastfeeding practices contribute to roughly 800,000 child deaths annually.

In response, UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO) launched the Global Breastfeeding Advocacy Initiative with the aim of raising visibility and political commitment for breastfeeding worldwide. 1,000 Days is proud to work with UNICEF and WHO to lead this initiative which is comprised of several partners including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Bank, Save the Children, Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine, International Baby Food Action Network, and World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action, among others. The Global Breastfeeding Advocacy Initiative aims to:

• Foster leadership and alliances and effectively integrate and communicate breastfeeding messages.
• Mobilize resources for breastfeeding support and protection and promote accountability
• Build knowledge and evidence to enhance breastfeeding policies, programs, financing and communication.

You can learn more about the Global Breastfeeding Advocacy Initiative here.

Breastfeeding is one of the best gifts you can give your baby.  As you prepare to meet your little one and prepare for her first meal, it is important to know what to expect.  While babies are born to breastfeed, moms often need support to breastfeed successfully.  You should be willing to ask for help as often as you need.  Before baby is born, familiarize yourself with where to find help and make sure that the hospital or birthing center where you plan to give birth is breastfeeding-friendly.  This means that they will have skilled lactation consultants, breastfeeding counselors or nurses and physicians trained in breastfeeding on staff to help you.

Getting breastfeeding off to a strong start is important and you should plan to begin breastfeeding ASAP after baby is born, ideally within the first hour of giving birth. This ensures your baby will get colostrum, an antibody-concentrated fluid that protects against disease and nourishes your baby until your milk comes in (which may take a few days).

If you need motivation to try breastfeeding, you can learn about the tremendous benefits of breastfeeding for both you and baby. First, breast milk offers your baby all the nutrition he needs, at just the right temperature, in an easy-to-digest formulation and perfect package (in a soft, warm embrace).

Breastfeeding also provides your little one with just the right amount of nutrition he needs as he grows; it operates on a supply and demand system. The more your baby demands, the more your body supplies (and vice-versa), which takes a lot of the guesswork out of feeding. The process also allows for close bonding between you and your baby, helping you stay in sync with his appetite.

What’s more, breast milk is chock full of antibodies that help protect your baby from infections and illness. Some short-term health benefits of breastfeeding include fewer ear infections, diarrhea, bronchitis or pneumonia and eczema. Fast forward a few years, and breastfed babies tend to be at lower risk of asthma, obesity, diabetes, childhood leukemia and the occurrence of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

Breastfeeding has health benefits for you as well, such as a lower likelihood of developing type 2 diabetes, breast cancer and ovarian cancer. And it may also help guard you from postpartum depression.

The longer you can breastfeed your baby, the better. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months of life, and then continuing up to your baby’s first birthday while he starts to eat solid food.

You can start to prepare for breastfeeding success with this list from the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Jill Castle is a registered dietitian and childhood nutrition expert. As a former private practice owner, she currently shares her expertise as a writer, speaker and consultant. She is the co-author of Fearless Feeding: How to Raise Healthy Eaters from High Chair to High School and author of the upcoming book Eat Like a Champion: Performance Nutrition for Your Young Athlete (2015). www.JillCastle.com

Background

DuPage County, located just west of Chicago, Illinois, is home to more than 900,000 people. Historically, DuPage County has been identified as one of the wealthiest counties in the nation as well as one of the healthiest ones according to the National County Health Rankings. Despite plentiful resources, the public health system in DuPage County is challenged by significant socio-economic changes among its most vulnerable residents, including women and children in the critical 1,000 day window.

We often think of malnutrition as an issue “over there.” Whether we imagine it to be an issue affecting people in other countries, or even people in other communities, we don’t often think malnutrition is affecting children and families in our own neighbor hoods. But the numbers tell us a different story.

Data

Estimates bring the number of DuPage County children experiencing food insecurity in 2012 to 37,130(15%), and approximately 20,000 DuPage County children are living in poverty.^1,2 The impact of food insecurity and poverty on child health and development is well-documented and emerging evidence around the “origins of health and disease” shows the link between early-life exposure (including food and nutrition, or lack thereof) on long-term health and disease, including obesity, heart disease and cancer. Across DuPage County, at least one in four kindergarteners entering public school is overweight or obese, and these numbers climb as children get older.³ And while breastfeeding initiation rates are similar to those for the State of Illinois, with nearly 80% of babies starting on breastmilk, by just 2 months of age just 55% of babies are being breastfed.⁴

Partnership

This is just a snapshot of the state of the first 1,000 Days in DuPage County. Yet there is strong scientific evidence that shows that proper nutrition during the critical 1,000 day window—from a woman’s pregnancy through a child’s second birthday—provides the essential building blocks for brain development, healthy growth, and a strong immune system. As a result, DuPage County partners, including the DuPage County Health Department, the DuPage Federation on Human Services Reform, Loaves & Fishes, and People’s Resource Center, have teamed up with 1,000 Days, a leading maternal and child health advocacy organization working to ensure good nutrition for mothers and children during the critical window from pregnancy through age two in the U.S. and around the world.

Action

1,000 Days: DuPage County is focusing its efforts on two priority areas: breastfeeding and food insecurity. By encouraging practices that support breastfeeding in hospitals and workplaces, and assessing food insecurity in our community, we strive to ensure a healthy start from pregnancy through age two.

Contact Us

For more information on 1,000 Days: DuPage County or to get involved, please contact:

Lorena Vaughn,
Program Director, Early Childhood Regional Collaboration
DuPage Federation on Human Services Reform
lvaughn@dupagefederation.org

^[1]DuPage Data, Feeding America; Mind the Meal Gap 2014
^[2]U.S. Census Bureau, 2009-2013 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates
^[3]DuPage County Health Department, FORWARD
^[4]March of Dimes Peristats, 2014