TOP 100 SCIENCE SITES
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| Solar Dreams and Reality at the White House Campaigners may have set their sights too high in pushing for rooftop solar panels at the White House. feeds.nytimes.com |
Children are what they eat Good nutrition is vital to ensuring a child grows and develops properly, yet is much overlooked. International development secretary Andrew Mitchell says it is vital to find ways to feed children better in their first two years of lifeVaccines are probably the most effective single intervention to save the lives of small children, but malnourishment stunts their growth and development. The listlessness and swollen bellies of children in Africa tell of hunger and inadequate nutrition that will hold them back for a lifetime.Yet generally nutrition does not get the attention it deserves. Some argue that the UN has not been very effective on the issue, but it's undoubtedly a difficult area. It's hard to work out an effective strategy to improve the situation if you don't know the scale of the problem in the first place - and there are no very convincing figures.I met Andrew Mitchell, the international development secretary, at the Britsih ambassador's residence in New York, where he was staying for the UN summit - a beautiful old building on the waterfront with a wood-paneled lift that is operated by a man in uniform. It was like a piece of colonial Britain - a long way from the smart and functional modernity of the hotels where most of the delegates stay. He was exercised about several issues - maternal mortality (he spoke passionately about the need for women to be able to get contraception so they can plan their families - see his remarks here), malaria and nutrition.If you do my job, you see urgent need frequently, but there is no development challenge more urgent than the crisis of malnutrition facing infants in their early years.Speaking later at an initiative launched by Hillary Clinton called "Scaling up Nutrition" - the Brits and the Americans these days seem to speak with one voice - Mitchell said the first 1000 days are crucial to a child's future development and yet the issue of nutrition is sadly much neglected. The UK, he said, is intent on doing something about that. He wants to gather the data about the scale of the problem and what can be done about it and is putting £6 million into a research programme over the next five years - not a large sum of money, but a start.Mitchell also wants more active political leadership on nutrition and more effective action from the UN, whose standing committee, he said "needs a fresh look". He would also like to see the World Bank, a major funder, develop ways to measure the effectiveness of interventions.Millennium development goalsNutritionSarah Boseleyguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Letters: Cheap and Effective (1 Letter) A letter to the editor. feeds.nytimes.com |
Beyond the grave Why city cemeteries are vital for urban biodiversity bbc.co.uk |
Andromeda 'born in a collision' The nearest spiral galaxy to the Milky Way - Andromeda - was born when two smaller galaxies collided, say astronomers. bbc.co.uk |