Global Nutrition Report 2017: Nourishing the SDGs
The Global Nutrition Report 2017, launched at the Global Nutrition Summit in Milan, Italy, highlights the need for an urgent and integrated response to global nutrition if we are to meet the Sustainable Development Goals of Agenda 2030. With almost every country in the world facing a serious nutrition-related challenge, whether from undernutrition or obesity, the report authors call for a critical change in the global response to malnutrition in all its forms and action throughout the goals to tackle the many causes of malnutrition. The report finds that 88% of the 140 countries studied face a serious burden of either two or all of the three forms of malnutrition used as indicators for broader trends: childhood stunting, anaemia in women of reproductive age, and overweight adult women. Rates of undernutrition in children are decreasing, but not quickly enough to meet internationally agreed nutrition goals Almost one in three women of reproductive age worldwide is affected by anaemia, and rates continue to rise Overweight and obesity are on the rise in almost every country. Based on current trends, there is less than a 1 per cent chance of meeting the global target of halting the rise in obesity and diabetes by 2025. Key findings highlight the impact that this burden is having on broader global development efforts, and the report calls for nutrition to be placed at the heart of efforts to end poverty, fight disease, raise educational standards and tackle climate change.