Governance and resilience as entry points for transforming food systems in the countdown to 2030.

Due to complex interactions, changes in any one area of food systems are likely to impact-and possibly depend on-changes in other areas. Here we present the first annual monitoring update of the indicator framework proposed by the Food Systems Countdown Initiative, with new qualitative analysis elucidating interactions across indicators. Since 2000, we find that 20 of 42 indicators with time series have been trending in a desirable direction, indicating modest positive change.

A collective call to strengthen monitoring and evaluation efforts to support healthy and sustainable food systems: 'The Accountability Pact'.

There is widespread agreement among experts that a fundamental reorientation of global, regional, national and local food systems is needed to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals Agenda and address the linked challenges of undernutrition, obesity and climate change described as the Global Syndemic. Recognising the urgency of this imperative, a wide range of global stakeholders - governments, civil society, academia, agri-food industry, business leaders and donors - convened at the September 2021 UN Food Systems Summit to coordinate numerous statements, commitments and declarations for action to transform food systems. As the dust settles, how will they be pieced together, how will governments and food corporations be held to account and by whom? New data, analytical methods and global coalitions have created an opportunity and a need for those working in food systems monitoring to scale up and connect their efforts in order to inform and strengthen accountability actions for food systems.

The COVID-19 crisis will exacerbate maternal and child undernutrition and child mortality in low- and middle-income countries.

The economic crisis and food and health system disruptions related to the COVID-19 pandemic threaten to exacerbate undernutrition in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). We developed pessimistic, moderate and optimistic scenarios for 2020-2022 and used three modelling tools (MIRAGRODEP, the Lives Saved Tool and Optima Nutrition) to estimate the impacts of pandemic-induced disruptions on child stunting, wasting and mortality, maternal anaemia and children born to women with a low body mass index (BMI) in 118 LMICs. We estimated the cost of six nutrition interventions to mitigate excess stunting and child mortality due to the pandemic and to maximize alive and non-stunted children, and used the human capital approach to estimate future productivity losses.

Coverage and Utilization in Food Fortification Programs: Critical and Neglected Areas of Evaluation.

The need for evidence to inform nutrition program design and implementation has long been recognized, yet the generation and use of evidence for program decision making has lagged. The results of the coverage surveys reported in this supplement highlight some of the strengths and areas for improvement of current population-based (i.e.

The Global Nutrition Report 2014: actions and accountability to accelerate the world's progress on nutrition.

In 2013, the Nutrition for Growth Summit called for a Global Nutrition Report (GNR) to strengthen accountability in nutrition so that progress in reducing malnutrition could be accelerated. This article summarizes the results of the first GNR. By focusing on undernutrition and overweight, the GNR puts malnutrition in a new light.

The double burden of malnutrition in SE Asia and the Pacific: priorities, policies and politics.

The double burden of malnutrition is defined by the co-existence of serious levels of under- and overnutrition.(1) Nowhere have overweight rates risen as fast as in the regions of South East Asia and the Pacific. The regions are also burdened with high and often stagnant levels of undernutrition.

Which aid spending categories have the greatest untapped potential to support the reduction of undernutrition? Some ideas on moving forward.

The financial resource needs for the reduction of undernutrition are significant, while the returns from reducing undernutrition are large. Yet the share of public resources allocated to the reduction of undernutrition remains disproportionately small. For overseas development assistance, the investment in nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive categories amounts to less than 3% of the total.

Postgraduate education in nutrition in south Asia: a huge mismatch between investments and needs.

Background: Despite decades of nutrition advocacy and programming, the nutrition situation in South Asian countries is alarming. We assume that modern training in nutrition at the post graduate level is an important contributor to building the capacity of individuals to think and act effectively when combating undernutrition. In this context, this paper presents a regional situation analysis of master's level academic initiatives in nutrition with a special focus on the type of programme we think is most likely to be helpful in addressing undernutrition at the population level: Public Health Nutrition (PHN).

The economic rationale for investing in stunting reduction.

This paper outlines the economic rationale for investments that reduce stunting. We present a framework that illustrates the functional consequences of stunting in the 1000 days after conception throughout the life cycle: from childhood through to old age. We summarize the key empirical literature around each of the links in the life cycle, highlighting gaps in knowledge where they exist.

Can nutrition be promoted through agriculture-led food price policies? A systematic review.

Objective: To systematically review the available evidence on whether national or international agricultural policies that directly affect the price of food influence the prevalence rates of undernutrition or nutrition-related chronic disease in children and adults.

Design: Systematic review.

Setting: Global.

From Nutrition Plus to Nutrition Driven: how to realize the elusive potential of agriculture for nutrition?

Background: Agriculture has the potential to have a bigger impact on nutrition status than it currently does. The pathways between agriculture and nutrition are well known. Yet the evidence on how to increase the impact of agriculture on nutrition is weak.

The politics of reducing malnutrition: building commitment and accelerating progress.

In the past 5 years, political discourse about the challenge of undernutrition has increased substantially at national and international levels and has led to stated commitments from many national governments, international organisations, and donors. The Scaling Up Nutrition movement has both driven, and been driven by, this developing momentum. Harmonisation has increased among stakeholders, with regard to their understanding of the main causes of malnutrition and to the various options for addressing it.