Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment he has made of the effect of malnutrition on the (a) health, (b) resilience and (c) economic potential of populations in fragile and conflict-affected states.

Malnutrition puts children and mothers at greater risk of getting sick and dying. It also stops children learning properly and results in them earning significantly less as adults. This has devastating effects on health, resilience, and economic potential, particularly in fragile and conflict-affected states where malnutriton remains persistently high. We have therefore announced that the UK will step up its efforts to end the preventable deaths of mothers, new-borns, and children.