Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to tackle micronutrient deficiencies in countries defined by the World Health Organisation on high burden countries; and what further steps she plans to take in relation to such countries.

Tackling undernutrition in the first 1,000 days of life is central to DFID’s strategy to improve child health and wellbeing, and tackling micronutrient deficiencies is a key part of that strategy. Details of DFID’s bilateral support is published on its Development Tracker website: http://devtracker.dfid.gov.uk/.

In addition to bilateral programmes, DFID provides support to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Food Programme (WFP), the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement and the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), all of which contribute to tackling micronutrient deficiencies in WHO high burden countries.