If the world produces more than enough food to feed everyone on the planet, why are millions of children dying from malnutrition; literally, starving to death? A new report from Save the Children, A Life Free From Hunger, examines this question and comes up with some revealing answers.

First the facts: one in three children in the poorest countries in the world are not developing properly because of a lack of proper nutrition. In fact, 2.6 million children die each year from malnutrition. But malnutrition doesn't show up on a child's death certificate so how can we best address this as a global community?

The report makes clear that we already know what works and it takes a combination of public health and agricultural interventions to fix this problem. From fortifying food with vitamins and minerals (breeding crops that are more nutritious like a sweet potato rich in Vitamin A) to exclusive breastfeeding (giving babies nothing but breastmillk; no formula, no water) to handwashing, we can prevent the deaths of millions of children.

So, what's stopping us? Nothing. What we need is a concerted effort to address malnutrition between the governments of those countries where malnutrition is most acute (including Bangladesh and Nigeria), the agencies which work on tackling hunger need to do more and work more efficiently to address this issue. As well, the rich country governments need to commit more funding towards programs which address hunger and malnutrition. There are programs which have arisen, like the Scaling Up Nutrition movement, doing more to figure out this problem.

As Ellen Piwoz wrote on Impatient Optimists, "Since the movement began, nearly 20 developing countries have made nutrition a priority and more than 100 global organizations, governments, and entities are aligning to support these nations’ efforts to scale up nutrition."

This is great news. But what can you do?

First, read the report. There are six clear directives Save the Children puts forth. Here are just a few that we can all have a direct impact upon:

• Make nutrition visible. Talk about this global problem. Governments in those countries where malnutrition is the biggest killer must make this a part of their priority agenda. 
• Encourage governments to invest in things like fortifying food and other agricultural methods to make crops more nutritious.
• Find out how you can help raise your voice about the lack of skilled health workers. One million health workers are needed, at least, to fill this gap.

Want to do more? Start here, at Save the Children's site. Read the report, and find out how you can plug into the worldwide movement to fight hunger and poverty. And don't forget to join the conversation on Twitter! Follow @gatesfoundation and @gatesag if you're interested in the work we're doing to fight hunger worldwide.