Improved maternal nutrition is critical to creating a world of healthy women, children, and societies.

Good nutrition sets off a ripple effect. It can dismantle inequity, poverty, and poor health. At every stage in the life-cycle, it can drive progress  –helping to enable each person to reach their full potential. It supports physical and cognitive development, helps prevent a number of diseases – from spina bifida to diabetes – and saves lives.

During pregnancy, the nutrition demands are greater – as are the consequence of not meeting them. It helps ensure a healthy pregnancy for mothers, limiting the risk of life-threatening complications. And for children, good nutrition during their mother’s pregnancy can be the difference between being born healthy and being born physically or mentally disadvantaged – or stillborn.

Each year, more than 300,000 women die from pregnancy or childbirth-related complications. Approximately 20 million babies are born underweight, 23 million are born too small, and 15 million are born too soon. Nearly half (45 percent) of all under-five child deaths are attributable to poor nutrition. But this does not need to be the case. Improved maternal nutrition is one of the most significant ways to ensure that women have healthy pregnancies and their children are born healthy. We must reach women and girls with effective interventions to improve maternal nutrition that are ready to scale up now.

Multiple Micronutrient Supplementation (MMS) during pregnancy is one such powerful solution.

Thank you to Vitamin Angels for providing the images used in this video.

Read the full Sight and Life Special Report: Focusing on MMS in Pregnancy here https://sightandlife.org/magazine/foc...