Global action on malnutrition targets children, women and climate-hit communities ahead of N4G Summit

Ahead of the 2025 Nutrition for Growth Summit (N4G), global leaders are uniting to address malnutrition, focusing on children, women and El Niño-impacted communities, while promoting sustainable solutions through partnerships and financing.

The N4G Summit’s Private Sector Working Group (PSWG) says the event will focus on global collaboration to combat malnutrition. The aims are to place nutrition at the center of the sustainable development agenda, make it a universal cause, create continuity between the summits and maintain political and financial interest in nutrition.

The PSWG, which is co-facilitated by ATNI (Access to Nutrition Initiative), the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) and the Paris Peace Forum (PPF), aims to bring meaningful contributions toward advancing nutrition outcomes by “fostering open dialogues” with governments, society, investors and private actors.

Greg Garrett, executive director at ATNi comments: “The food industry stands at a pivotal crossroad. Embracing nutrition is no longer an option but essential.”

“In March 2025, the sector will gather for N4G, the flagship international conference on global nutrition. This summit offers an opportunity for companies to commit to stepping up, scaling up and making a difference to healthier diets for everyone, everywhere.”  

The PSWG reveals three main goals: 

• Encourage private sector support for action on malnutrition based on the 2021 Responsible Business Pledge.
• Facilitate discussions with companies and help develop nutrition commitments aligned with the global nutrition agenda.
• Enable open dialogue between the public and private sectors to develop a common roadmap and develop a structured follow-up process post-summit.

According to the World Bank, 148 million children worldwide are still stunted, despite notable declines in the condition over the previous few decades. Contrastingly, almost half of adults globally are obese or overweight.

Private and public sectors meet

The last N4G Summit in Japan 2021 raised over US$27 billion with 400 new commitments, out of which 51 were from businesses. 

Dr. Francesco Branca, director of the WHO Department of Nutrition and Food Safety (Image credit: UNICEF).The first summit in 2013, UK, raised over US$4 billion in pledges for nutrition alongside commitments from various sectors. Hosted by a food company, the summit focused on combating malnutrition, which remains a “global challenge” today.

Seven important business groups are directing private sector participation ahead of N4G. Four companies, which include dsm-firmenich and Groupe Nutriset, are selected by the French government for the N4G Advisory Group to join as observers.

ATNI underscores the importance of a coordinated nutrition action plan and initiative follow-up.

WHO nutrition campaign

The WHO recently joined N4G to launch a collaborative effort to tackle malnutrition and drive progress on global nutrition goals through partnerships, financing and gender-responsive actions at the “Together for Nutrition” event at the 79th UN General Assembly.

The “Together for Nutrition” campaign seeks to spark international efforts to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through better nutrition prior to the Scaling up Nutrition (SUN) Movement Global Gathering in Rwanda and the N4G Summit. 

Dr. Francesco Branca, director of the WHO Department of Nutrition and Food Safety, comments: “This coalition marks an important milestone in our renewed commitment to tackle malnutrition, promote Essential Nutrition Actions in healthcare and support equitable access to affordable, safe and nutritious food.” He believes nutrition should remain a political and developmental priority.

Focus on women and children 

The Together for Nutrition event brought together over 30 representatives from global organizations and governments, including France, Japan and the US, alongside UNICEF, WHO and the World Bank. Speakers highlighted the dire state of global malnutrition, urging a unified response with sustainable financing to address the issue.

Stakeholders participating in the launch of the Nourish and Thrive project (Image credit: FAO). Although there has been progress in certain areas, such as exclusive breastfeeding rates and decreases in stunting and wasting, the most recent State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2024 report notes that malnutrition is still a serious problem that affects billions of people globally. 

The WHO reveals that women and girls in the hardest-hit countries face growing malnutrition rates, with pregnant women, new mothers and adolescent girls especially affected. The event underscored the need for cost-effective interventions, clear metrics and accountability to achieve SDG 2 (zero hunger).

WHO believes the event marked an advancement by introducing the World Bank’s 2024 Investment Framework for Nutrition and launching the “troika” of N4G stewards, who represent past, present, and future Summer Olympics host countries. 

Additionally, Nourish Equality — a set of 11 investment briefs on achieving gender equality and better nutrition – was launched to prepare for upcoming events like the Paris N4G.

Responding to El Niño impacts

With the theme of collaboration underlined by the PSWG, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the French Embassy in Zimbabwe have partnered with the government to launch the “Nourish and Thrive” project.

El Niño-induced droughts have been damaging rural households during the 2023/24 agricultural season, shares the FAO.

The French government has invested €1 million (US$1.06 million) in the Food Assistance Programme “Nourish and Thrive” to aid vulnerable communities in the Mwenezi and Masvingo districts. 

“The Government of Zimbabwe has a constitutional responsibility to ensure that every citizen of the country has access to enough safe and nutritious food. I am well informed that the Nourish and Thrive project is aimed at improving child nutrition status as well as promoting household nutrition, food security and resilience,” says Joseph Tirirvavi, deputy director of Family and Social Protection & Commissioner for Refugees in Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare.

“This is in line with the National Blueprint, the National Development Strategy 1 of leaving no one behind, as well as Zimbabwe’s recently launched Multisectoral Food and Nutrition Strategy 2023–2025.”

FAO outlines the project’s main goals: improving the nutrition status of children, women and households, strengthening communities with diverse, nutritious and sustainable food production, and boosting health workers’ capacity to deliver nutrition.

“This initiative is designed to provide nutrition-sensitive social protection to those most affected by the drought. Together, we will establish a common understanding of the project’s objectives, clarify roles and responsibilities and foster collaboration across all levels of implementation,” said Patrice Talla, FAO subregional coordinator for Southern Africa and representative to Zimbabwe, during the project launch.

FAO believes the “Nourish and Thrive” project addresses causes of child malnutrition, women’s health and household vulnerability. Solutions include community-powered feeding programs for children, “nutrition education, social protection, agricultural support and capacity-building for local health and food systems actors.”

In related news, Nigeria’s child hunger crisis is deepening, and northern Gaza faces the risk of imminent famine.