From promise to impact. Ending malnutrition by 2030
The only independent and comprehensive annual review of the state of the world’s nutrition, the Global Nutrition Report is a multipartner initiative that holds a mirror up to our successes and failures at meeting intergovernmental nutrition targets. It documents progress on commitments made on the global stage, and it recommends actions to accelerate that progress.
The Global Nutrition Report aims to be a beacon, providing examples of change and identifying opportunities for action. This year’s report focuses on the theme of making—and measuring— SMART commitments to nutrition and identifying what it will take to end malnutrition in all its forms by 2030.
Sections of the report referring in particular to data and knowledge management:
Invest in carrying out proven and evidence-informed solutions—and in identifying new ones.
We currently have sufficient experience, data, and evidence to act decisively to improve nutrition outcomes. Examples from Brazil, Ghana, Peru, and other countries, presented in the report, can inform country approaches. We know which interventions are most effective to address undernutrition. We know which public policies stand a good chance of working to reduce malnutrition in all its forms. We have learned that it is important to work with citizens and civil society, and to develop intersectoral governance mechanisms. At the same time, governments, funders, and researchers should work to close the knowledge gaps that are holding back action: for example, our lack of knowledge on the underlying drivers of wasting, nonexclusive breastfeeding, obesity, and overweight hampers our ability to mobilize resources from outside of the health sector to prevent them. Knowing more about why some countries can overcome implementation barriers and achieve high coverage rates in nutrition programs when others cannot will help overcome bottlenecks. And identifying new, less expensive ways to use existing subnational data—and to collect new data where needed—will help ensure that we leave no one behind in the SDG era. “
Today’s data and knowledge are not sufficient to maximize investments.
The report supports the call for a data revolution for nutrition. The scarcity of data prevents us from identifying and learning from real progress at the global and national levels. It also hides inequalities within countries, making it more difficult for governments to know about them and for others to hold governments fully accountable. The report recommends disaggregating data to better understand where malnutrition exists: in an analysis of more than 50 countries, the stunting rate in the subnational region with the highest rate is three times that of the subnational region with the lowest rate. In 13 countries, stunting rates in the wealthiest quintile of society exceeded 20 percent, belying the notion that income necessarily equals good nutrition. We face significant data gaps related to spending on nutrition-sensitive actions and on actions to fight obesity and nutrition-related NCDs; the coverage and impact of programs tackling all forms of malnutrition; the nutrition status of the 60 million people displaced by conflict; and malnutrition prevalence and trends in fragile states. Lastly, we confront knowledge gaps in understanding episodes of success and stasis and comprehending the underlying drivers of obesity and NCDs.”
