COMBATING MALNUTRITION
Malnutrition afflicts millions of children worldwide, robbing them of a bright future. When a child chronically lacks the right nutrition, mental and physical damage is irreversible.
This lack of nutrition makes children more susceptible to illness throughout their life and less productive members of society.
Individuals lose more than 10% of lifetime earnings, and many countries lose at least 2–3% of their GDP due to child malnutrition.
The situation is preventable but in fact it is getting worse. The call to action is clear: investing in nutrition is an investment in the next generation.
Eradicating poverty & hunger
The Unilever Foundation is partnering with the World Food Programme (WFP) in Project Laser Beam, a public–private partnership that aims to create a scalable, replicable and sustainable model to improve nutrition, health and livelihoods, focusing on Bangladesh and Indonesia.
WFP, Unilever and many other partners, such as Mondelez (formerly known as Kraft Foods), DSM and the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) have made a joint commitment through to 2015 to help to deliver on the first Millennium Development Goal – “eradicating poverty and hunger” – through a holistic approach to combating child malnutrition.
Together we will
Improve the nutrition of up to 500,000 children.
Provide access to clean drinking water, sanitation and basic healthcare to whole communities.
Reach more than 1 million people with life-changing hygiene training in schools and among communities.
Enhance the livelihoods of 3,000 women in ultra poor households.
We are determined to make a sustainable difference in the lives of more than 2 million people in two of the poorest countries in the world.
We believe that Project Laser Beam will serve as a model for public–private partnerships that can be replicated in other countries around the world to combat malnutrition.