AS THE Group of Eight (G8) of the world's wealthiest countries meet in Northern Ireland this month on 17 and 18 June, the UK has an extraordinary opportunity to influence international policy, in a way that benefits the poorest children living in the most dangerous countries.

The Prime Minister will be joined in Enniskillen by the President of the United States, as well as the leaders of Canada, France, Japan, Germany, Italy, and Russia, for the annual summit. As it is taking place in the UK, our Government has an opportunity to set the agenda in defining global policy in vital areas. Despite the cynicism of some people, global initiatives and pledges can go a long way to alleviating the effects of extreme poverty.

DRAMATIC progress has been made over the past two decades in decreasing child mortality, for instance. Since 1990, the number of children who die before their fifth birthday has nearly halved. Measures directed at combating malnutrition have played a crucial part in this reduction. Roughly a third of deaths among children under five are caused by malnutrition.

While agencies such as World Vision, Christian Aid, and others join in the celebration of the global progress that has been made, new research warns that, in the world's most dangerous places, progress has stalled, and risks going into reverse.

To make the most of the opportunity to influence G8 leaders towards more policies that work in favour of the poor, a report published this week, Fragile But Not Helpless (bit.ly/17iF38S), focuses on countries with particularly high levels of chronic malnutrition and state fragility. These include Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Pakistan, which are some of the toughest places to be a child. The report illustrates the need for more consistent and targeted attention from donors such as those in the G8.

Instead of focusing on such places, however, donor countries have concentrated their funding and technical assistance in places where significant gains can be made relatively quickly. Countries that are affected by conflict and have fragile government structures are more likely to have high rates of childhood malnutrition. It is also more difficult to improve those rates.

BROADLY speaking, there are two kinds of malnutrition, chronic and acute. Chronic malnutrition may not be immediately life-threatening, but it can make a child more susceptible to dangerous illnesses that are the main killers in developing countries. It can leave children's mental and physical development stunted.

If this occurs after the age of two, there is no treatment that will recover the loss. They will have to live with the consequences of this early scarcity, however small or great, for the rest of their lives.

In countries that are affected by conflict, it is vital to strive for peace - but that should not mean devoting all our resources towards security, and sidelining basic but effective steps to tackle malnutrition.

Getting nutrition right in the first 1000 days (from pregnancy to the age of two) has lifelong implications for children - not only influencing their survival, but also how well they will do at school, and their job prospects. This can be achieved. But it needs consistent funding and political will. Simple measures, such as adding iodine to salt, and providing vitamin A supplements can save tens of thousands of children from malnutrition.

The latest figures show clearly that malnutrition kills many more children than conflict. We ignore this at children's peril - and we urge governments and donors to recognise this, and to channel their efforts accordingly.

Malnutrition is a significant contributing factor in the deaths of more than 2.3 million children every year. Globally, 165 million children, or one in four of all children under five, are classified as stunted - chronically undernourished and at risk of long-lasting damage to their cognitive and physical development.

About half of the world's fragile and conflict-affected states have not yet joined up to the global movement to tackle nutrition, Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN). This is an initiative involving governments, NGOs, businesses, and the UN.

Donor countries are being asked to support fragile and conflict-affected states and encourage them to join the SUN movement. G8 leaders are being urged to commit to provide funding and technical support to fragile and conflict-affected states that develop budgeted national action plans to tackle malnutrition.

We would also like to see an increase in long-term development funding to the most difficult contexts, and incentivise state-building and improved ministry co-ordination.

The focus on nutrition is also reflected in the coalition of UK aid agencies that make up the campaign Enough Food for Everyone IF (enoughfoodif.org/; News, 25 January).

The main message of the IF campaign is that there is enough food available in the world to feed everyone, and yet one in eight women, children, and men go to bed hungry. This is an international scandal that can and must be tackled.

Sarah Wilson is senior emergencies specialist at World Vision UK.