Global Malnutrition Prevention and Treatment Act

Update: This bill has passed both the House and Senate!

The main Results page has great resources for the Global Malnutrition Prevention and Treatment Act. The goal of this page is to provide additional resources to consult within our Washington State Chapter meetings. The target audience is someone who is already convinced of the need to prevent malnutrition and who just wants more background information. Hopefully this will be useful when composing your letters to the editors. Text to full bill is here.

The Global Malnutrition Prevention and Treatment Act would take big steps toward reducing malnutrition. It would accomplish this by authorizing the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to advance targeted and evidence-based malnutrition programs, coordinate with international and interagency partners, and integrate nutrition priorities into existing global health and agricultural programs. It would also mandate robust monitoring and oversight of nutrition programs to ensure that U.S. investments are used effectively.

https://results.org/blog/new-bipartisan-bill-would-make-big-impact-on-global-malnutrition/

Who is currently in charge of malnutrition prevention in the USA?

Complete 2021 Spending by Function and Subfunction

Mostly the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), but other federal agencies are also involved.

This graph shows the functions and subfunctions of the 2021 federal budgets. The size of the circles represent how much was spent. If you hover over the circles, you will see more information.

Because it’s difficult to think in millions and billions, each number is converted to the amount you paid to the account from a tax bill of $10,000. (The data was downloaded from USASpending for Fiscal Year 2021 using the “transaction_obligated_amount”)

Humanitarian Spending Only by Agency and Account

  • Spending bills allocate funds for federal accounts, for example, the International Disaster Assistance Funds. These are the smaller circles in the graph.
  • The above graph showed the “owning agency” of funds. This graph shows the “awarding agency”
  • These federal accounts are administered by the relevant agencies. Most agencies provide contracts and grants to organizations so they can carry out the agency’s mission. For example, the USAID might provide the World Food Program with funds from the International Disaster Assistance Funds in response to a famine.
  • Many Federal Agencies have humanitarian aid as part of their mission. The Department of Agriculture administers “Food for Peace”, for example, which makes up a small fraction of their budget.

How is humanitarian aid currently divided?

Top 20 Recipients (and 5 additional non-profits)

The Global Malnutrition Prevention and Treatment act would require USAID to fight malnutrition by funding evidence-based interventions.

This chart shows the top 20 recipients of grant money for “International development and humanitarian assistance” organized by organization type in 2021 (Nonprofits, for profits, and multilaterals) and then by owning federal agency. Hovering over the circles will show additional information on each recipient. Nobel Peace Laureates are outlined in green.

I also included recipients who were selected as a GiveWell Top Charity and “The Life You Can Save” Best Charity (orange highlight). Both GiveWell and The LIfe You can Save how effective charities are at saving lives. Two of their recommended charities strike me as exactly the type of charity that The Global Malnutrition Prevention and Treatment Act would aim to direct funds towards. They both currently receive too little compared to the top 20 recipients to have their names visible in this chart, but they can be found by hovering over the small circles in the non-profit circle with the thicker outline.

Here’s a little information on the Helen Keller International:

Vitamin A deficiency leaves children vulnerable to infections and can lead to death. We attribute over 200,000 children’s deaths to vitamin A deficiency each year.(8)  [The Helen Keller Institue] saves lives by providing vitamin A supplements to children under 5 years old.

About $1 to deliver a vitamin A supplement.(9) In 2020, we directed funding to Helen Keller International to support this program at an estimated average cost-effectiveness of $3,000 per life saved.(10) 

GiveWell

And Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN):

Iodine is a micronutrient crucial for bone and brain development. However around 1.75 billion people — nearly a quarter of the world’s population — get too little iodine in their food. This leads to increased rates of miscarriage, stillbirth, and infant mortality, as well as cognitive and developmental problems, goiter, and hypothyroidism. …GAIN can help build, expand, or sustain salt iodization programs depending on the country and the level of support it needs. 

The Life You Can Save

The hope with this legislation is that more funds will go to charities with a track-record of saving children’s lives.

Action by Washington State Result members:

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