5 takeaways from the Global Nutrition Report
The 2016 Global Nutrition Report is a global stocktake of the world’s progress toward ending malnutrition, and it’s showing some crucial trends. Here are our top five takeaways from the report, and what the World Food Programme (WFP) is doing about them.
1. Malnutrition now affects one in three
The nature of malnutrition is changing. The number of stunted children remains alarmingly high, even among the wealthy. Meanwhile the number of overweight children is rapidly increasing in poor countries. Almost half of all countries now face the so-called ‘double burden’ of malnutrition — high rates in both undernutrition and overweight.
These developments are critical for WFP — an agency long associated with fighting malnutrition. Our work needs to remain dynamic and relevant, focused on promoting healthy diets, increasing access to nutritious foods, and preventing malnutrition in all its forms.
2. Data aren’t telling us the whole story
There is a major lack of data to tell us what is and isn’t working, whom to target and how to reach them. This is hampering efforts to reduce global malnutrition. In many cases these data exist but aren’t readily available.
Within WFP and our partner organizations we hold considerable nutrition knowledge, especially on programme implementation, scale-up and evaluation. We are becoming more systematic in our approach to this data, recruiting more staff across countries to better document our experiences and lessons learnt, and sharing these through new platforms. This includes linking to global platforms with partners like the World Bank, UNICEF and the Food Fortification Initiative to increase accessibility to these data both internally and externally.
3. The economic return on nutrition investments is huge
Children free from malnutrition go on to have higher IQs, more education and better salaries, and have children who are more likely to experience the same. Good nutrition creates a cascade of benefits that improve health, education, employment and women’s empowerment, and reduce poverty and inequality.
It may not be surprising, then, that for every dollar invested into proven nutrition interventions, the return is USD 16. A Wall Street equivalent would see investors flocking.
Yet nutrition is chronically underfunded. In many countries governments allocate just 2 percent of spending to reducing undernutrition.
WFP is working closely with governments, helping them meet their pledges to end malnutrition by 2030 and to translate political commitment to actual budget allocations.
4. Extreme poverty and malnutrition are concentrated in emergency contexts
Global poverty and malnutrition is increasingly concentrated in fragile situations. An unprecedented number of vulnerable people have been displaced by crises, and the number of global refugees has hit an all-time high of 19.6 million.
Many refugees are largely dependent on WFP’s food assistance, but funding shortfalls are cutting into food rations, and nutrient-rich and fortified foods are among the first to be dropped due to their higher costs. In the context of the new Global Goals and growing attention to nutrition, 2016 provides an exceptional opportunity to improve nutrition among refugees and other displaced populations. WFP continues to advocate for sufficient resources to prioritize nutrition for these groups.
5. We know change is possible, and fast
Some countries have made enormous strides towards ending malnutrition, and other governments can learn from them. Rates of child stunting in Ghana, for instance, have almost halved in just 11 years. Brazil — a poster child for government-led approaches to ending malnutrition — has achieved similarly impressive results.
WFP is helping facilitate more cooperation between governments so they can learn from each other’s successes. For instance, over the past year the Centre of Excellence Against Hunger — run jointly by WFP and the Brazilian government — has arranged for Ghana, Liberia, Ethiopia and Kenya to visit Brazil and learn from the Brazilian experience, helping these countries to develop their own nutrition policies and programmes.
See the full 2016 Global Nutrition Report online.
Article first published 27 June 2016
