A well-nourished, healthy and educated population is the foundational prerequisite for growth and economic development.
Healthy and productive people have more income, pay more taxes and build a country’s capacity to contribute its own resources towards essential services, such as quality education and improved healthcare.
Almost all countries face a serious burden of either two or three forms of malnutrition, including:
- Undernutrition
- Vitamin or mineral deficiencies
- Overweight and obesity, and diet-related noncommunicable diseases
The World Bank estimates that all forms of malnutrition cost the global economy $3.5 trillion per year.