Kathmandu, 5 December 2011: A high-level delegation from the EU Parliament visited UNICEF-supported Nutrition and Education programmes during a two-day trip in Nepal last week.

The EU has contributed a grant of €20 million to UNICEF to tackle under-nutrition in five Asian countries, including Nepal, which received €3.2 million from the EU for the period 2010-2014. This funding is supporting a comprehensive package of measures to prevent and address chronic malnutrition in the country where pervasive child and maternal under-nutrition threatens to derail national economic development and growth.

UNICEF with EU funding support is working with the Government of Nepal to improve women’s access to essential health and nutrition services during pregnancy and children before the age of two. The first thousand days of life, that is from conception to two years of age, is the critical window of opportunity, when young children lose their chance to thrive cognitively and physically if poorly nourished.