LONDON, December 11, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Network to enable businesses to advocate for SUN priorities globally

Business leaders from some of the world's biggest companies gathered with leaders from government, the United Nations and civil society in London last night to announce a new approach to harnessing business support to the fight against maternal and child undernutrition.  The event marked the launch of the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement Business Network. The SUN Movement is a new and unique global effort that unites people - governments, civil society, the United Nations, donors, businesses and researchers - in a collective effort to eliminate malnutrition in all its forms.  The Business Network will enable businesses to align with the priorities of national governments as they increase their investments in nutrition.

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The network will facilitate business engagement in the SUN Movement, link business to other stakeholders and provide a public record of company commitments and activities to scale up nutrition interventions in the Movement's 33 member countries.  SUN Business Network members will act as ambassadors of nutrition by working to bridge the gap between the public and private sectors through the sharing of expertise.

 "As momentum increases in the fight against malnutrition on the global development agenda, businesses are called upon more and more to help deliver sustainable, affordable and nutritious solutions to the people who need them most," said Marc Van Ameringen, Executive Director, GAIN. "The SUN Business Network will provide business leaders with greater opportunities to engage both with peers and with cross-sector stakeholders to drive greater collective impact."

"If we are serious about improving nutrition for vulnerable communities, we will have to work in partnership with the private sector," said WFP's Senior Nutrition Advisor, Martin Bloem. "WFP can give people the assistance they require to access the food they need, but we are looking to the private sector to help develop and implement national plans on nutrition, and to ensure that the right kinds of food products are available to meet nutritional needs."

In addition, the introduction of a new online global forum provides a live platform to help businesses share knowledge and best practices on sustainable models to improve nutrition worldwide.

The SUN Business Network is co-convened by GAIN and WFP on behalf of the SUN Lead Group, a body of 27 leaders from  governments, civil society and business appointed by Secretary General Ban Ki Moon.

About GAIN

Driven by a vision of a world without malnutrition, GAIN was created in 2002 at a Special Session of the U.N. General Assembly on Children. GAIN supports public-private partnerships to increase access to the missing nutrients in diets necessary for people, communities and economies to be stronger and healthier. With a current daily reach of over 667 million people in more than 30 countries, GAIN's goal is to improve the lives of one billion people by 2015 within the most vulnerable populations around the world through access to sustainable nutrition solutions.

About WFP

WFP is the world's largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide. Each year, on average, WFP feeds more than 90 million people in more than 70 countries.

WFP now provides RSS feeds to help journalists keep up with the latest press releases, videos and photos as they are published on WFP.org. For more details see: http://www.wfp.org/rss

WFP has a dedicated ISDN line in Italy for quality two-way interviews with WFP officials.

CONTACT:
GAIN: Sandra Coyle, +1-202-559-8511, scoyle@gainhealth.org
WFP: Greg Barrow, +44-20-7240-9001, gregory.barrow@wfp.org

SOURCE Gain and World Food Programme