Through the world health assembly (wha), countries have signed onto global nutrition targets, and as chapter 2 shows, one way to track countries’ progress is to apply these global targets to the national level.

To be effective, commitments to action must be implemented and enforced. The implementation of policies and interventions depends on converting political commitment to practical action.

As discussed in chapter 1, setting targets is one manifestation of political commitment. Countries have already made a series of commitments to attain global nutrition targets by 2025 (Panel 2.1).

On june 8, 2013, the governments of the united kingdom and brazil, and the children’s investment fund foundation (ciff) hosted a summit in London titled “Nutrition for Growth: Beating Hunger through Business and Science” (known as N4G).

Assess progress against global targets; make smart commitments; accelerate implementation; accelerate the contribution of the underlying drivers; finance the global targets; measure progress at the national and subnational level

Commitment without funding represents unfulfilled good intentions. If nutrition-promoting actions are to be implemented and targets met, they need to be financed.

The food, social, health, and living environments in which people make decisions have a huge influence on nutritional status. For optimal nutrition, these underlying factors matter.

To guide, track, and learn from our efforts to reduce malnutrition, we require credible, timely, and useful data on nutrition outcomes and inputs.

It is a formidable challenge. Every country is facing a serious public health challenge from malnutrition (IFPRI 2014). One in three people is malnourished in one form or another (IFPRI 2015a).

This chapter tracks countries’ progress in improving the nutrition status of their populations.

Accountability is the glue that connects commitment to action, and so strengthening it is a priority.

To hold governments and other national stakeholders accountable for their actions to improve nutrition, it is critical to track their progress in implementing interventions, programs, and policies.

As we move into the era of the sustainable development goals (SDGS), the world faces many seemingly intractable problems. Malnutrition should not be one of them.

The issue of nutrition had an important moment in the spotlight in 2013.

The actions and activities of businesses have a profound effect on nutrition outcomes.

This chapter begins by asking how much governments currently spend on nutrition.

As described in the preceding chapter, food systems link agriculture, environmental sustainability, and nutrition.

Good nutrition signals the realization of people’s rights to food and health. It reflects a narrowing of the inequalities in our world. Without good nutrition, human beings cannot achieve their full potential.

Given the widespread effects that climate change is projected to have on the world’s most vulnerable people—and indeed the effects that are already underway—climate change features strongly in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): specifically