WUNRN
Direct Link to Full 118-Page Report:
http://www.ifpri.org/sites/default/files/publications/gnr14.pdf
Global
Nutrition Report 2014: Actions & Accountability to Accelerate the World’s
Progress on Nutrition
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the post-2015 world will
require healthy and well-nourished populations that contribute to economic
growth and equitable development in all countries and across the globe. Good
nutrition is key to achieving the ambitious targets set out in the SDG
framework, and improving nutrition remains a major challenge of the 21st
century.
The
Global Nutrition Report 2014 is the first in an annual series
that assesses progress in improving nutrition status across the globe,
identifies obstacles to change, emphasizes potential for action, and enhances
nutrition accountability mechanisms. The report series was called for by the
90+ signatories of the Nutrition for Growth Summit (N4G) in 2013. It is
delivered by an Independent Group of Experts in collaboration with a large
number of external partners and is supported by a wide-ranging group of
stakeholders.
The Global Nutrition Report 2014 brings together 82 indicators on
nutrition status, determinants, intervention coverage, and resources for all
193 UN member countries, which are available online as individual country
profiles aimed at helping nutrition champions assess progress in nutrition and
advocate for greater action at the country level.
The Report presents analyses of these data to assess global progress in
improving nutrition and related determinants, and to recognise country-level
experiences in relation to regional and global trends. In addition to
highlighting key areas for action, the Report makes recommendations of measures
that can be taken to accelerate malnutrition reduction. It also assesses
signatories’ self-reported progress towards the N4G compact, and acts as an
accountability mechanism for the financial and non-financial commitments made
by countries, donors, business and civil society organizations at the summit.
A key finding of the Report is that malnutrition affects nearly every country
in the world. For the 122 countries in the world with comparable data, all
except two experience at least one of three common forms of malnutrition at
levels that are of public health significance: adult overweight, under-5
stunting, or anaemia in women of reproductive age. The co-existence of
different forms of malnutrition is so widespread that dealing with multiple
burdens of malnutrition can be considered the “new normal”.
The Report examines the world’s progress towards meeting the nutrition targets
for 2025 agreed to by the World Health Assembly in 2012, concluding that it is
off-course. Many countries have made progress in improving nutrition outcomes,
but at the global level, little progress is being made in decreasing rates for
anaemia, low birth weight, wasting in children under age five, and over¬weight
in children under age five. Progress in increasing exclusive breastfeeding
rates has been slow, and while more progress has been made in reducing stunting
rates in children under five, it is insufficient to meet the global target.
Improvements in the underlying drivers of nutrition – such as education,
sanitation and hygiene, and healthcare – as well as the low coverage levels of
nutrition-specific interventions – such as vitamin A supplementation and zinc
treatment for diarrhoea – are examined in the Report. It also recommends that
policies that support nutrition action can be measured and must be strengthened
to tackle undernutrition, as well as the growing scourge of nutrition-related
non-communicable diseases. The Report demonstrates how tracking financial resources
available for nutrition is challenging, but states that measuring donor
spending on nutrition can be achieved with better co-ordination across the
different actors.
Underlying many of the obstacles to improved nutrition are large data gaps,
highlighted in the Report, which can impede action, progress and
accountability. In addition to more data collection, it is essential to
strengthen the quality and comparability of data collection efforts, and to
make better use of existing data across the globe. Nutrition needs a data
revolution for healthy and well-nourished populations.
At its core, the Report, and the relevant country profile, aims to empower
national nutrition champions to advocate for greater leadership, resourcing,
research and capacity for improved nutrition in every country.
The stakeholders and contributors of the Global Nutrition Report 2014 see it as
more than just a report, but as an intervention that reframes the way we view
and act on malnutrition in every country in the world.