A、Appropriated funds to promote research of nutrient-rich foods. B、Encouraged breastfeeding for the first six months of a child’

The 2010 Global Hunger Index report was released today by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). It notes that, in recent years, experts have come to the conclusion that undernourishment between conception and a child’s second birthday can have serious and long-lasting impacts.
    Undernourishment during this approximately 1,000-day window can seriously check the growth and development of children and render them more likely to get sick and die than well-fed children. Preventing hunger allows children to develop both physically and mentally.
    Says IFPRI’s Marie Ruel, "They will be more likely to perform well in school. They will stay in school longer. And then at adulthood, IFPRI has actually demonstrated that children who were better nourished have higher wages, by a pretty large margin, by 46 percent."
    Ruel says that means the productivity of a nation’s future generations depends in a large part on the first 1,000 days of life.
    "This is why we’re all on board in focusing on those thousand days to improve nutrition. After that, the damage is done and is highly irreversible."
    The data on nutrition and childhood development has been slowly coming together for decades. But Ruel says scientific consensus alone will not solve the problem.
    "It’s not enough that nutritionists know you have to intervene then, if we don’t have the politicians on board, and also the…people that implement [programs] in the field."
    Ruel says there are encouraging signs that politicians and implementers are beginning to get on board. Many major donors and the United Nations are targeting hunger-relief programs at pregnant women and young children. They focus on improving diets or providing micro-food supplements. They improve access to pre-birth care and encourage exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of a child’s life.
    Ruel says in the 1980s Thailand was able to reduce child undernourishment by recruiting a large number of volunteers to travel the countryside teaching about health and nutrition.
    "They really did very active promotion of diversity in the diet and good eating habits. So they were providing more food to people, but also educating people on how to use them, and also educating people on how to feed their young children."
    Ruel says countries may take different approaches to reducing child undernutrition. But she says nations will not make progress fighting hunger and poverty until they begin to focus on those critical first thousand days.
    20. What is the experts’ conclusion regarding children’s undernourishment in their earliest days of life?
    21. What does IFPRI’s Marie Ruel say about well-fed children in their adult life?
    22. What did Thailand do to reduce child undernourishment in the 1980s?