Giving Compass' Take:

• The author explains that having too many stakeholder groups involved in an approach to end malnutrition will not help drive progress.

• What are better approaches to addressing hunger and malnutrition while sustaining collaboration?

• Read about why malnutrition is a community health issue.

As the saying goes, too many cooks spoil the broth. However, sometimes it’s not about how many cooks are involved in the process, but about how effective they are at working together to reach a common goal.

This is true in the context of how countries approach nutrition and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) – having too many stakeholder groups involved isn’t always the issue. Rather, to achieve nutrition goals countries must ensure they’ve got the right sectors and ministries involved, and that they’re collaborating in the most effective ways.

Malnutrition is a major cause of child illness and morbidity, and the World Health Organization estimates that half of undernutrition is associated with diseases caused by poor WASH – the issues are inseparable. As we set to enter the third year of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), progress is too slow to meet the target under Goal 2 to end all forms of malnutrition. Without integrated approaches bringing together nutrition and WASH – supported at both the global level and by national governments – progress will continue to be limited.

Read the full article about ending malnutrition by Sophia Durrans at WASHfunders.