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The 2010 Global Hunger Index report was released today by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). (20) It notes that, in recent years, experts have come to the conclusion that undernourishment between conception and a child's second birthday can have serious and long-lasting impacts.
Undernourishment during this approximately 1,000-day window can seriously check the growth and development of children and render them more likely to get sick and die than well-fed children. (20) Preventing hunger allows children to develop both physically and mentally.
Says IFPRI's Marie Ruel,"They will be more likely to perform well in school. They will stay in school longer. (21) And then at adulthood, IFPRI has actually demonstrated that children who were better nourished have higher wages, by a pretty large margin, by 46 percent."
Ruel says that means the productivity of a nation's future generations depends in a large part on the first 1,000 days of life.
"This is why we're all on board in focusing on those thousand days to improve nutrition. After that, the damage is done and is highly irreversible."
The data on nutrition and childhood development has been slowly coming together for decades. But Ruel says scientific consensus alone will not solve the problem.
"It's not enough that nutritionists know you have to intervene then, if we don't have the politicians on board, and also the... people that implement the programs in the field."
Ruel says there are encouraging signs that politicians and implementers are beginning to get on board. Many major donors and the United Nations are targeting hunger-relief programs at pregnant women and young children. They focus on improving diets or providing micro-food supplements. They improve access to pre-birth care and encourage exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of a child's life.
(22) Ruel says in the 1980s Thailand was able to reduce child undernourishment by recruiting a large number of volunteers to travel the countryside teaching about health and nutrition.
"They really did very active promotion of diversity in the diet and good eating habits. So they were providing more food to people, but also educating people on how to use them, and also educating people on how to feed their young children."
Ruel says countries may take different approaches to reducing child undernutrition. But she says nations will not make progress fighting hunger and poverty until they begin to focus on those critical first thousand days.
20. What is the experts' conclusion regarding children's undernourishment in their earliest days of life?
21. What does IFPRI's Marie Ruel say about well-fed children in their adult life?
22. What did Thailand do to reduce child undernourishment in the 1980s?
國際糧食政策研究所（IFPRI）今日發布了2010年全球饑餓指數報告。報告顯示，近年來專家得出結論：從懷孕到嬰兒兩歲之間的營養不良可能導致嚴重而長期的影響。
在這將近1000天的時間內的營養不良可能會嚴重限制兒童的生長發育，而且這些兒童的生病和死亡率也比營養充足的兒童高。預防饑餓能使孩子的身體和心智更好地生長和發育。
國際糧食政策研究所瑪麗·魯埃爾說，“他們在學校里表現可能更好，上學的時間可能也更長。事實上，國際糧食政策研究的報告還表明，成年后，營養更好的孩子有著相對更高的薪水，而且領先優勢比較明顯，有46%之多。”魯埃爾說，這就意味著一個國家年輕一代人的生產力在很大程度上取決于他們生命最開始的1000天。
“這就是為什么我們將重點放在這1000天內的營養改善。過了這段時間，問題已經形成，想要補救難度極高。”
這些關于營養和兒童發育問題的資料是經過幾十年慢慢收集起來的。但是魯埃爾說單單是科學方面達成共識根本解決不了問題。
“只是營養學家知道應該在這一時期進行干預是不夠的，還需要有政府和該領域內對相關項目有實施權的人士的支持。”
魯埃爾說現在已經可以看到政治家和實施者參與進來的積極信號了。很多大的慈善機構以及聯合國目前已經開始將消除饑餓項目的對象鎖定到了孕婦和幼年兒童身上。它們將重點放在改善飲食和提供微量食品食品添加劑。它們改善孕婦產前營養，鼓勵在嬰兒出生前六個月純母乳喂養。
魯埃爾說20世紀80年代，泰國招收大量的志愿者到鄉下去講授關于健康和營養的知識，降低了兒童營養不良的幾率。“他們真的對健康飲食和良好的飲食習慣進行了很積極多樣的宣傳。他們為人們提供了食物，還教給人們如何食用這些食物及如何安排他們孩子的飲食。”
魯埃爾說每個國家為減少兒童營養不良現象采取的方式可能不同。但是，無論是哪個國家，它們只有將上面提到的這1000天作為重點，才有可能在消除饑餓和貧困的工作中取得進展。
20.關于兒童初生期營養不良專家得出了什么結論？
21.國際糧食政策研究所瑪麗·魯埃爾說營養充足的孩子成年后的生活如何？
22.20世紀80年代的泰國為降低兒童營養不良的幾率做了什么？
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