UK Aid: Nutrition-sensitive Programmes

Debate between Baroness Boycott and Baroness Sugg

Monday 13th January 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Sugg]

As the noble Baroness highlights, we are committed to helping poor countries provide 12 years of good-quality education, particularly for girls. She is also right to point out that, to learn, children need the right nutrients. Malnutrition prevents many girls attending school and hinders the potential of those who do. We are committed to ensuring that we deliver early education and nutrition interventions together, and our DfID 2018 education policy states that. When children get the basic nutrition they need in the first 1,000 days of life, they do better at school and earn more as adults.

[Baroness Boycott (CB)]

My Lords, without good nutrition at key points in a child’s growth, it is impossible for them to develop a healthy immune system, and, nowadays, malnutrition is the number one cause of TB worldwide. I know that a lot of DfID’s work is channelled through multilaterals, such as the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Will the Government give us an assurance that they will deal effectively with malnutrition, so that the impact these organisations have can be maximised?