Benefits of small

Nature Food volume 4, pages 130–132 (2023)Cite this article

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Better nutrition is critical for protecting children from disease and death in the short term, and for building human capital and life opportunities in the long term. Scaling up effective actions to improve child nutrition is more urgent than ever given that the current food and nutrition crisis is linked to rising child undernutrition, which drives 45% of deaths among young children1. Although recent commitments to increase funding for the early detection and treatment of child wasting are encouraging, we argue that prevention of wasting and other forms of child undernutrition using proven interventions should also be prioritized.

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S.K.B. was employed by the US Agency for International Development when the work for the current article was completed. The opinions and views expressed in this statement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the organizations with which they are affiliated.

Shawn K. Baker

Present address: Helen Keller Intl, New York, NY, USA

Nutrition and Child Development, Programme Division, UNICEF, New York, NY, USA

Victor M. Aguayo, Saul I. Guerrero Oteyza, Grainne Moloney & Linda Shaker-Berbari

US Agency for International Development (USAID), Washington, DC, USA

Shawn K. Baker

Institute for Global Nutrition, Department of Nutrition, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA

Kathryn G. Dewey, Elizabeth L. Prado, Christine P. Stewart & K. Ryan Wessells

Development Research Group, The World Bank Group, Washington, DC, USA

Emanuela Galasso

Nutrition Division, United Nations World Food Programme, Rome, Italy

Abigail Perry & Saskia de Pee

Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, WA, USA

Zeina Sifri, Rahul Rawat & Alison Tumilowicz

Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance, US Agency for International Development (USAID), Washington, DC, USA

Dina Aburmishan

Health, Nutrition and Population Global Practice, The World Bank Group, Washington, DC, USA

Meera Shekar

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All authors contributed to the conceptualization and writing of this statement. All authors have approved the final version of the manuscript for submission.

Correspondence to Kathryn G. Dewey.

K.G.D., C.P.S. and K.R.W. received funding and travel support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to organize and attend the event referenced in this manuscript. Three of the authors (R.R., Z.S. and A.T.) are employees of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The other authors declare no competing interests.

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Aguayo, V.M., Baker, S.K., Dewey, K.G. et al. Benefits of small-quantity lipid-based nutrient supplements for child nutrition and survival warrant moving to scale. Nat Food 4, 130–132 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-023-00703-2

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Published: 09 February 2023

Issue Date: February 2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-023-00703-2

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