A Global Nutrition Movement Is Needed More Than Ever

In my more than 30 years with the United Nations, I have seen enormous change, collaboration, and progress toward improving human development. But I have also seen how history has a way of repeating itself, entrenching some of the most intractable global challenges. Nowhere is this more evident than in the fight against malnutrition. Early in my career with UNICEF, I learned how crucial nutrition is to a child’s future, and the cascade of problems that follow when nutrition falters. The effects ripple through learning outcomes, health, economic opportunity, and long-term stability. The 2008–09 food price crisis brought the issue of malnutrition sharply into focus. When nutritious diets suddenly became unaffordable for millions, global leaders recognised the need for a different approach, inspiring the creation of the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement. Fifteen years on, we stand at a crossroads. In 2025, overseas development assistance (ODA) has fallen dramatically, especially for nutrition, which even in good years accounts for less than 1% of total ODA. At the same time, humanitarian crises show no sign of easing. The United Nations has appealed for US$23 billion to save the lives of 87 million people facing acute crisis, while more than 135 million people worldwide now require humanitarian assistance. In an increasingly constrained aid environment, the UN is forced into triage — deciding not where needs are greatest, but where limited resources can stretch the furthest. Beyond emergencies, a global cost-of-living crisis is pushing healthy diets further out of reach for millions more. Taken together, these pressures make one outcome tragically predictable: without urgent action, malnutrition will rise. In Nigeria, hospital admissions of severely malnourished children have surged by 200 percent in some states, and hundreds of children have already died from malnutrition in just the first half of this year. In Sudan, the destruction of food factories and aid disruptions amid a years-long civil war have left millions trapped in a worsening nutrition emergency. Against this bleak backdrop, global trends project that more than half of the world’s population will be overweight by 2035 — the result of food environments where convenient, low-cost foods high in trans fats, sodium, and sugar are more affordable than nutritious options. Yet just as renewed commitments to nutrition are most needed, high-income nations are reducing ODA spending, while SUN countries struggle with dwindling resources, regardless of their commitments to improving nutrition. The world cannot afford to forget nutrition. To do so would invite a future marked by widespread chronic disease, overstretched health systems, lost educational and economic potential, and diminished quality of life for millions. Meeting today’s reality demands a fundamental shift in how we plan and invest. We must move beyond short-term thinking, bridge the divide between humanitarian and development work, and coordinate efforts across food, health, education, climate, and social policy. Only by building long-term resilience across governments, economies, and communities can we hope to reverse current trends and safeguard future generations. This thinking underpins the SUN Movement’s renewed approach — a coordinated global effort built around three core ideas: building resilience against shocks, working across sectors, and diversifying financing for sustainability. ODA alone cannot deliver the World Health Assembly’s malnutrition targets. First, resilience. Recent years have shown how conflict, climate disasters, and economic shocks can erase nutrition gains overnight. SUN will focus on strengthening food and health systems to withstand such shocks and prevent emergencies from turning into disasters. Second, sustainable financing. The world faces a US$10.8 billion annual nutrition funding gap. Closing it requires countries to diversify funding sources, including national budgets, responsible business, philanthropy, development banks, and climate finance. Third, addressing the changing face of malnutrition. Overweight and obesity now affect nearly 400 million children — a tenfold increase since 1975. SUN’s renewed approach places obesity prevention and healthy food environments alongside its long-standing focus on undernutrition. Finally, integration. Malnutrition does not exist in isolation. The Global Compact for Nutrition Integration, supported by more than 80 countries and organisations, demonstrates how aligning policies, programmes, and financing across sectors can embed nutrition goals where they matter most. My career has taught me that global progress is never guaranteed. The gains we fight hardest for are often the most fragile and must be nurtured, protected, and sustained. Two things are clear: no country is immune to the malnutrition crisis, and without coordinated, long-term action, the crisis will deepen. As I step back from this work, my hope is that global resolve grows stronger — and that in fifteen years’ time, we will have found new solutions to problems that once seemed intractable. Afshan Khan is UN Assistant Secretary-General and Coordinator of the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement.

In my more than 30 years with the United Nations, I have seen enormous change, collaboration, and progress toward improving human development. But I have also seen how history has a way of repeating itself, entrenching some of the most intractable global challenges.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the fight against malnutrition. Early in my career with UNICEF, I learned how crucial nutrition is to a child’s future, and the cascade of problems that follow when nutrition falters. The effects ripple through learning outcomes, health, economic opportunity, and long-term stability.

The 2008–09 food price crisis brought the issue of malnutrition sharply into focus. When nutritious diets suddenly became unaffordable for millions, global leaders recognised the need for a different approach, inspiring the creation of the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement.

Fifteen years on, we stand at a crossroads. In 2025, overseas development assistance (ODA) has fallen dramatically, especially for nutrition, which even in good years accounts for less than 1% of total ODA. At the same time, humanitarian crises show no sign of easing. The United Nations has appealed for US$23 billion to save the lives of 87 million people facing acute crisis, while more than 135 million people worldwide now require humanitarian assistance.

In an increasingly constrained aid environment, the UN is forced into triage — deciding not where needs are greatest, but where limited resources can stretch the furthest. Beyond emergencies, a global cost-of-living crisis is pushing healthy diets further out of reach for millions more. Taken together, these pressures make one outcome tragically predictable: without urgent action, malnutrition will rise.

In Nigeria, hospital admissions of severely malnourished children have surged by 200 percent in some states, and hundreds of children have already died from malnutrition in just the first half of this year. In Sudan, the destruction of food factories and aid disruptions amid a years-long civil war have left millions trapped in a worsening nutrition emergency.

Against this bleak backdrop, global trends project that more than half of the world’s population will be overweight by 2035 — the result of food environments where convenient, low-cost foods high in trans fats, sodium, and sugar are more affordable than nutritious options.

Yet just as renewed commitments to nutrition are most needed, high-income nations are reducing ODA spending, while SUN countries struggle with dwindling resources, regardless of their commitments to improving nutrition.

The world cannot afford to forget nutrition. To do so would invite a future marked by widespread chronic disease, overstretched health systems, lost educational and economic potential, and diminished quality of life for millions.

Meeting today’s reality demands a fundamental shift in how we plan and invest. We must move beyond short-term thinking, bridge the divide between humanitarian and development work, and coordinate efforts across food, health, education, climate, and social policy.

Only by building long-term resilience across governments, economies, and communities can we hope to reverse current trends and safeguard future generations.

This thinking underpins the SUN Movement’s renewed approach — a coordinated global effort built around three core ideas: building resilience against shocks, working across sectors, and diversifying financing for sustainability. ODA alone cannot deliver the World Health Assembly’s malnutrition targets.

First, resilience. Recent years have shown how conflict, climate disasters, and economic shocks can erase nutrition gains overnight. SUN will focus on strengthening food and health systems to withstand such shocks and prevent emergencies from turning into disasters.

Second, sustainable financing. The world faces a US$10.8 billion annual nutrition funding gap. Closing it requires countries to diversify funding sources, including national budgets, responsible business, philanthropy, development banks, and climate finance.

Third, addressing the changing face of malnutrition. Overweight and obesity now affect nearly 400 million children — a tenfold increase since 1975. SUN’s renewed approach places obesity prevention and healthy food environments alongside its long-standing focus on undernutrition.

Finally, integration. Malnutrition does not exist in isolation. The Global Compact for Nutrition Integration, supported by more than 80 countries and organisations, demonstrates how aligning policies, programmes, and financing across sectors can embed nutrition goals where they matter most.

My career has taught me that global progress is never guaranteed. The gains we fight hardest for are often the most fragile and must be nurtured, protected, and sustained.

Two things are clear: no country is immune to the malnutrition crisis, and without coordinated, long-term action, the crisis will deepen.

As I step back from this work, my hope is that global resolve grows stronger — and that in fifteen years’ time, we will have found new solutions to problems that once seemed intractable.

Afshan Khan is UN Assistant Secretary-General and Coordinator of the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement.