June 24, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 106 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session

[Page S4460]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 SENATE RESOLUTION 260--RECOGNIZING THE IMPORTANCE OF SUSTAINED UNITED 
STATES LEADERSHIP TO ACCELERATING GLOBAL PROGRESS AGAINST MATERNAL AND 
 CHILD MALNUTRITION AND SUPPORTING THE COMMITMENT OF THE UNITED STATES 
 AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT TO GLOBAL NUTRITION THROUGH THE 
                   MULTI-SECTORAL NUTRITION STRATEGY

  Ms. COLLINS (for herself, Mr. Coons, Mr. Boozman, Mr. Schumer, Mr. 
Young, Mrs. Murray, Mr. Crapo, Mr. Casey, Ms. Murkowski, Mr. Reed, Mr. 
Cramer, Ms. Warren, Mr. Moran, Ms. Cantwell, Mr. Rubio, Mr. Brown, Mr. 
Gardner, Mr. Markey, Mr. Sullivan, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. 
Cardin, Ms. Smith, Mr. Wyden, Mr. King, Mr. Jones, Mr. Merkley, and Ms. 
Klobuchar) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
the Committee on Foreign Relations:

                              S. Res. 260

       Whereas, of all children under 5 years of age worldwide--
       (1) 149,000,000, or 21.9 percent, are stunted or 
     chronically undernourished;
       (2) an estimated 7.3 percent, or nearly 49,000,000, 
     experience life-threatening acute malnutrition (also known as 
     ``wasting''); and
       (3) more than 40,000,000 are overweight;
       Whereas, in countries highly affected by undernutrition, 
     stunting affects 1 in every 3 children;
       Whereas malnutrition directly or indirectly causes 45 
     percent of all deaths of children under 5 years of age, a 
     total of 2,600,000 deaths annually;
       Whereas children who experience malnutrition--
       (1) may experience impaired brain development, lower IQ, 
     and weakened immune systems; and
       (2) are at a greater risk of contracting serious diseases;
       Whereas undernourished adolescent girls have impaired 
     cognitive ability and productivity, and the future children 
     of those girls are at increased risk for low birth weight and 
     death;
       Whereas iron deficiency anemia, associated with 
     undernutrition, contributes to 1 in 5 maternal deaths, or 20 
     percent of maternal mortality;
       Whereas poor maternal nutrition contributes to poor fetal 
     development and low birth weight, and an estimated 60 to 80 
     percent of neonatal deaths occur in low-birth-weight babies;
       Whereas a large body of scientific evidence supports the 
     benefits of improved breastfeeding practices on the short-
     term and long-term health and development of children and 
     their mothers;
       Whereas a growing body of evidence indicates that reducing 
     maternal and child malnutrition, especially in the critical 
     1,000-day period between the beginning of pregnancy and the 
     second birthday of the child, is imperative to--
       (1) ending preventable child and maternal deaths;
       (2) improving cognitive and physical development; and
       (3) strengthening the immune systems of children to bolster 
     resistance to disease;
       Whereas leading economists and Nobel Laureates have 
     identified improving child nutrition as the most cost-
     effective way to improve global health outcomes and enhance 
     development;
       Whereas the approach of the Multi-Sectoral Nutrition 
     Strategy of the United States Agency for International 
     Development addresses the direct and underlying causes of 
     malnutrition;
       Whereas the focus of the Multi-Sectoral Nutrition Strategy 
     on linking humanitarian assistance with development 
     programming helps build resilience to shocks in vulnerable 
     communities;
       Whereas malnutrition is a universal issue that no country 
     can afford to overlook;
       Whereas countries with populations that experience high 
     burdens of malnutrition, including stunting, wasting, anemia, 
     and micronutrient deficiency, will struggle to achieve 
     sustainable and equitable economic growth;
       Whereas the United States plays a leading role supporting 
     the goals of Scaling Up Nutrition, a global movement of 60 
     countries to prioritize nutrition through effective policy 
     and dedicated national resources, particularly during the 
     1,000-day window of opportunity between the beginning of 
     pregnancy and the second birthday of the child; and
       Whereas, although the world has reduced undernutrition 
     since 1990, global progress has been too slow--
       (1) to ensure that each child can attain a full and 
     prosperous future regardless of where that child was born; 
     and
       (2) for the global community to reach the global nutrition 
     targets set for 2025: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) recognizes that--
       (A) food security and good nutrition in early childhood 
     saves lives and lays the foundation for healthy physical and 
     cognitive growth and development;
       (B) the potential benefits of good nutrition in early 
     childhood are life-long and influence the entire future of 
     the child, with entire communities and nations ultimately 
     prospering;
       (C) the right nutrition--
       (i) helps children learn;
       (ii) helps protect children from illness;
       (iii) increases the productivity and earning potential of 
     children later in life; and
       (iv) supports the well-being and health of the future 
     offspring of those children who receive that nutrition;
       (D) women who are well-nourished and do not suffer from 
     anemia are less likely to die in childbirth or give birth to 
     children who are malnourished, breaking the intergenerational 
     cycle of malnutrition;
       (E) good nutrition is an economic issue that is central to 
     reducing poverty and putting countries on a path to economic 
     development;
       (F) adults who were well-nourished as children earn up to 
     46 percent more than adults who were malnourished as 
     children;
       (G) countries with a very high burden of early childhood 
     malnutrition have lower economic growth rates due to lost 
     income and productivity; and
       (H) the cost of childhood malnutrition to countries is 
     substantial, with--
       (i) estimated losses in Gross Domestic Product of 3 to 16 
     percent; and
       (ii) potential impacts to the global economy as high as 
     $3,500,000,000,000 per year;
       (2) applauds the leadership of the United States in helping 
     developing countries meet the nutritional needs of women and 
     children;
       (3) supports continued efforts by the United States to help 
     developing countries meet the nutritional needs of women and 
     children;
       (4) commends the United States Agency for International 
     Development (referred to in this resolution as ``USAID'') for 
     recognizing that nutrition interventions are among the 
     highest-impact evidence-based interventions that--
       (A) are lifesaving; and
       (B) support the goal of ending preventable child and 
     maternal deaths;
       (5) recognizes the Multi-Sectoral Nutrition Strategy, the 
     U.S. Government Global Nutrition Coordination Plan, and the 
     Global Food Security Strategy as platforms through which to 
     reach, by 2025, the global nutrition targets agreed to at the 
     World Health Assembly in 2012;
       (6) recognizes the vision and goals of the Scaling Up 
     Nutrition movement, a global partnership supporting country-
     led efforts to improve maternal and child nutrition through 
     the involvement of--
       (A) governments;
       (B) civil society;
       (C) the United Nations;
       (D) donors;
       (E) businesses; and
       (F) researchers;
       (7) recognizes that progress against global malnutrition 
     must be accelerated using innovative, scaled up approaches to 
     improve the systems that affect the health and nutritional 
     status of women and children; and
       (8) calls for transformative efforts across sectors at 
     USAID to accelerate progress to end maternal and child 
     malnutrition, including through--
       (A) country development cooperation strategies that align 
     with national nutrition plans; and
       (B) improved and clear methods to track nutrition funding 
     and outcomes across all global nutrition programs of the 
     United States Government, especially those relating to--
       (i) global health;
       (ii) food security;
       (iii) agriculture;
       (iv) basic education;
       (v) food assistance; and
       (vi) water, sanitation, and hygiene (also known as 
     ``WASH'').

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