It's like the small print on a contract: The country organizing the Olympic and Paralympic Games is also tacitly obliged to organize an international summit devoted to the fight against malnutrition. This idea came from the United Kingdom in 2013, following the London Games, to take advantage of the media window to mobilize the international community on nutrition, a crucial development issue that has no specific multilateral framework for gatherings. This recent custom has already had its ups and downs: Brazil did not organize one after the 2016 Rio Games and the event was relocated to Italy in 2017; Japan held a virtual summit in 2021 while the Covid-19 pandemic was still raging.

Four years later, against a backdrop of heightened urgency, the French government is organizing the Nutrition for Growth summit on Thursday, March 27, and Friday, March 28. It's the first major international solidarity event since the announcement, at the end of January, of the halting of the majority of American funding for humanitarian aid and development aid. And it represents a test of credibility for the international community. Malnutrition, the world's leading cause of infant mortality, is chronically underfunded, even before the US U-turn and the drop in funding from several European countries.

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