Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps he is taking with his international counterparts to develop stronger health systems which integrate malnutrition prevention and treatment to achieve universal health coverage.

The UK championed the prevention and treatment of malnutrition as a core aspect of universal health coverage at the high-level meeting at the United Nations General Assembly in September. This is key to ending preventable deaths of mothers, new-borns, and children, given that malnutrition drives 45% of child deaths – a top priority for the UK as recently announced.

To support countries to achieve universal health coverage the UK is also investing in health systems strengthening and service delivery that integrates nutrition in countries such as Bangladesh and the Democratic Republic of Congo. We have also taken steps to integrate nutrition more strongly into global health initiatives such as the Global Financing Facility. This is line with the UK’s commitment at the United Nations General Assembly to address malnutrition as one of the leading causes of illness and death.

The UK has also been working closely with the Government of Japan to ensure that commitments to strengthen the integration of nutrition into health systems are a key plank of the 2020 Nutrition for Growth Summit in Tokyo.