Blog Category

Nutrition

New Cost of Healthy Diets Tool provides powerful look at nutrition gaps—and how to solve them

• by Sara Gustafson and Sediqa Zaki

In recent years, it has become increasingly recognized that true food and nutrition security depend not just on consumption of an adequate caloric quantity of food but also on consumption of the right types of food. A healthy diet—which the WHO and FAO define as one characterized by adequate, balanced, moderate, and diverse consumption of safe foods and beverages—is essential in supporting long-term physical and cognitive health, development, and well-being and in preventing diseases and damaging nutrient imbalances.

Acute Food Insecurity Continues to Rise throughout Africa South of the Sahara: Global Report on Food Crises Released

• by Sara Gustafson

Conflict, extreme weather events, and economic shocks led to worsening food security outcomes throughout much of Africa south of the Sahara in 2024, according to the recently released 2025 Global Report on Food Crises. While a number of countries saw improvements in their levels of acute food insecurity, all regions saw an overall increase in the number of acute food-insecure people.

Integrating gender and nutrition into climate policy: Insights from the GCAN Initiative in Nigeria

• by Musa Tukur Yakasai, Bello Yakasai, Yohanna Moses, Bedru Balana, Elizabeth Bryan, Augustine Iraoya, and Claudia Ringler

Climate change impacts—including increasing temperatures, shifting rainfall patterns, and intensifying extreme weather events—have hit Nigeria hard, reducing agricultural productivity, driving up food prices, and limiting access to nutritious food. Climate-related damage to roads, irrigation, education, and health care infrastructure has also undermined food production and access to essential services.

Rising food insecurity, waning humanitarian assistance: 2025 Global Report on Food Crises released

• by Sara Gustafson and Rob Vos

The world faced a stark inflection point in 2024, as the continued rise in the number of people facing crisis-to-catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity meets sharp reductions in funding for humanitarian assistance. The 2025 Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC), released today, reports that 295.3 million people across 53 countries/territories faced acute food insecurity in 2024. This represents a tripling of the number of people facing acute hunger since 2016 and a doubling since 2020 (Figure 1).

Figure 1

Ethiopia’s health and nutrition data gap and what it means for public health

• by Taddese Zerfu

In a world where data drives decisions, the importance of high-quality health and nutrition data cannot be overstated. Reliable data is the backbone of effective policymaking, intervention planning, and resource allocation—all critical for improving public health outcomes. For Ethiopia, a country grappling with significant health and nutrition challenges, the need for consistent, accurate, and timely data has never been more urgent.