Huffington Post: The 1,000 Day Investment for Our Future
Ambassador Tony Hall, executive director emeritus of the Alliance to End Hunger

“…Hunger and malnutrition can stake their claim in the lives of the next generation before they ever take their first breaths. Without proper foods and nourishment, a mother may barely have sufficient nutrients to fulfill her own dietary needs, let alone that of the growing child she holds in utero. Furthermore, this lack of nutrition already begins to wreak havoc on the child during the prenatal stage. If the deficit of proper nutrition continues through the vital early-development stages of a child’s life the effects are devastating and, in many cases, irreversible. … But the consequences of ignoring the importance of nutrition in the 1,000-day window are not confined to the developing world. … In both national and international contexts, acting upon the knowledge of the importance of adequate nutrition in the first 1,000 days is truly an investment in the future; and it is simply too costly to ignore” (3/27).