A new report by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation suggests that fortifying bouillon cubes with iron, folic acid, zinc, and vitamin B12 could prevent up to 16.6 million cases of anaemia and avert up to 11,000 deaths from neural tube defects in children by 2050 in Nigeria.
This potential breakthrough was revealed in the foundation’s eighth annual Goalkeepers report, released on Tuesday, which urges immediate action to boost health and spur economic growth.
The report, titled “A Race to Nourish a Warming World,” highlights the dual challenge of malnutrition and climate change, noting that climate change could worsen hunger globally.
The foundation projects that by 2050, 40 million more children will suffer from hunger’s worst effects due to climate change if urgent global action is not taken.
“Scaling up solutions now can avoid this outcome, while also building resilience to climate change and spurring much-needed economic growth,” the report stated.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that 148 million children experienced stunting in 2023, while 45 million suffered from wasting. These are the most severe forms of malnutrition, which hinder children from reaching their full mental and physical potential.
Foreign Aid Declining Despite Growing Needs:
As malnutrition worsens, the Gates Foundation report revealed that the total share of foreign aid directed toward Africa has decreased over the last decade. “In 2010, 40 percent of foreign aid went to African countries. But that number is now down to just 25 percent—the lowest percentage in 20 years,” the report revealed, raising concerns about child health across the continent. This is especially critical, as over half of all child deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa.
Bill Gates, co-chair of the foundation and author of the report, described malnutrition as “the world’s worst child health crisis,” emphasizing that the ongoing climate crisis exacerbates it. Gates called on world leaders to maintain global health funding and invest in solutions that combat malnutrition while fostering economic resilience.
“Unfortunately, aid isn’t keeping pace with these needs, particularly in the places that need it the most,” Gates wrote.
He highlighted the need for supporting the Child Nutrition Fund, a platform for coordinating donor financing for child nutrition, and fully funding established global health institutions such as Gavi and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria.
Proven Tools to Fight Malnutrition:
The report highlighted several innovative solutions to address malnutrition and mitigate its economic costs. Among these are agricultural technologies that produce safer and more abundant milk, reducing childhood stunting, and the fortification of pantry staples such as bouillon cubes and salt with essential vitamins and minerals.
In Nigeria, fortifying bouillon cubes with essential nutrients has been identified as a key solution.
Ladidi Bako-Aiyegbusi, Director of Nutrition at Nigeria’s Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, is leading a large-scale effort to fortify bouillon cubes in the country.
She remarked, “Without access to the essential nutrients that children under 5 years need to grow, thrive, and lead healthy lives, they are being robbed of their future.”
The report’s modeling shows that these efforts, along with other strategies such as providing high-quality prenatal vitamins and adopting multiple micronutrient supplements, can save nearly half a million lives and improve birth outcomes for 25 million babies by 2040.
Dr. Sabin Nsanzimana, Rwanda’s Minister of Health, also emphasized the importance of prenatal vitamins, stating, “Prenatal vitamins save lives. That’s why you can find them on grocery store shelves in wealthy nations. But for women in low- and middle-income countries, like Rwanda, they are at once more essential and harder to find.”
Economic Consequences of Malnutrition:
The report underscores the catastrophic economic impact of malnutrition, which the World Bank estimates leads to an annual productivity loss of $3 trillion globally. This economic drag disproportionately affects low-income countries, where malnutrition may reduce GDP by as much as 16%.
“The best way to fight the impacts of climate change is by investing in nutrition,” Gates said.
He stressed that solving malnutrition would not only make vaccines more effective and reduce the fatality of diseases like malaria but would also make it easier to solve other global challenges such as extreme poverty.
A Call for Global Action:
In conclusion, the report calls for increased investment in child nutrition and emphasizes that addressing malnutrition is essential for global health and economic stability.
“If we solve malnutrition, we make it easier to solve every other problem,” Gates wrote, urging world leaders and governments to rise to the challenge.
With solutions such as fortifying bouillon cubes and other basic food items already within reach, the report outlines a clear path to reducing child malnutrition and saving millions of lives.
The question remains: will the global community act in time to prevent this crisis from worsening?