My children recently asked me what kind of tablet I had as a child. As I unpacked the markedly low-tech realities of my late 80s and 90s upbringing for them (Etch-a-sketch! Mixed tapes! Landlines!), I was struck again by how profoundly the world has changed in my lifetime. We are now a quarter of our way through the 21^st century. In the past 25-year period we have seen the dramatic rise and expansion of internet use and access, including the explosion of large data and AI. Climate change is now a major, if not the primary global concern, with billions being invested in green tech, adaptation and mitigation solutions. Black Lives Matter and the “Me Too” movements have ushered in global progress for racial justice, gender equality, and expanded rights and recognition for LGBTQ+ communities. And tourism has now exited the bounds of earth and entered space.

For those of us in the nutrition community, collective global efforts and leadership over the last 25 years have led to several remarkable results: preventable child deaths have been cut in half since 2000. Large-scale food fortification efforts have made salt iodization nearly universal, with over 130 countries iodizing their salt for public consumption. Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2, Zero Hunger, has put nutrition squarely on the global development agenda, with the World Health Assembly (WHA) nutrition targets further defining and focusing country, regional and global priorities.

Efforts to coordinate global nutrition actions (as seen through the Scaling Up Nutrition movement), cost the implementation of high priority nutrition interventions (such as the World Bank’s Investment Frameworks for Nutrition in 2017 and 2024) and measure global progress (like in the Global Nutrition Report) have enabled more country-led, data-driven, multisectoral action and investment. And in the last year, global mobilization around the 2024 G20 initiative on hunger and poverty point to near universal consensus that hunger and malnutrition must be eliminated.

“While such progress should be honored and safeguarded, our efforts to make good nutrition a reality for everyone, everywhere, cannot stop.

— Robyn Bright, Director of Global Advocacy, Nutrition International

While such progress should be honored and safeguarded, our efforts to make good nutrition a reality for everyone, everywhere, cannot stop. At present, the world is largely off track from meeting the WHA targets – and in some cases, these indicators of nutrition progress are worsening. Enduring regional and global conflicts are affecting food prices and affordability, while stoking the root causes of conflict and instability. The world is now home to more youth than ever before, whose future health, prosperity and power hinges on access to health, nutrition and education supports that are becoming harder to access for those on the margins.  And global debt – which has some countries spending more on debt servicing than on education and health combined – means that bold, new and proven solutions are needed now more than ever.

The promise of 2025

With five years remaining to achieve the SDGs, we must focus our time, talent and treasure on accelerating progress. 2025 could mark the beginning of several strategic sprints that bring focus, alignment, political support and financing to some of the most challenging issues in global nutrition.

Here are some of the moments and movements to watch for:

New financing solutions for improved nutrition

With ever-increasing pressure on official development assistance (ODA), subdued global growth, high rates of domestic debt, and weak tax regimes, the quest for new and optimized forms of financing for global nutrition programs continues. Many are looking first to the Nutrition for Growth Summit and later the Financing for Development Conference for more and better financing for country-led nutrition action.

What to watch:

• Watch for an enhanced spotlight on the role of the multilateral development banks in nutrition financing, as well as more nuanced conversations around how ODA can be used to leverage private capital for accelerated results (and where private capital is also not materializing as expected).
• Nutrition International will be working closely with its partners, including the African Union, the African Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the Banking on Nutrition partnership to bring forward new learning and new commitments for improved nutrition moving forward.
• Watch as well for renewed focus on aid and cost-effectiveness and the prioritization of high-quality technical assistance and capacity to strengthen governments capacity to implement their own programs at scale.

Heightened focus on obesity, non-communicable diseases and the role of ultra-processed foods

The global face of malnutrition is changing – rapidly. While levels of undernutrition remain stubbornly high, overweight and obesity are now also on the rise, especially in Africa and Asia. Left unchecked and unaddressed, the global costs of overweight and obesity are predicted to reach USD $3 trillion per year by 2030 and more than USD $18 trillion by 2060. The world is off track to achieve the 2030 global target to halt the rise of obesity, with more than 1.2 billion obese adults projected for 2030 (19.8 percent global prevalence).

But global experts, thought leaders and practitioners are working hard to prevent overweight and obesity before it happens.

What to watch:

• The Lancet is expected to run a series on the impacts of ultra-processed foods (UPF) on healthy sustainable food systems in the first quarter of 2025, reaffirming the mounting evidence for the linkages between UPF and obesity.
• Ireland will bring forward a resolution at the World Health Assembly 2025 to extend the WHA targets, putting a much-needed spotlight on actions to further protect food environments, strengthen labeling, increase “sin taxes” and reduce overall risks of overweight and obesity.
• The UN Food Systems Summit will also feature updates on countries’ progress towards more sustainable food systems that contribute to public health, including by reducing the risk of overweight and obesity.
• As plans for the postponed SUN Global Gathering restart, expect double duty actions to prevent all forms of malnutrition to receive much needed attention. Watch these summits for increasing alignment across major nutrition players to limit the role of ultra-processed food producers in policy spaces.

Increasing focus on the linkages between peace, stability and nutrition security

Conflict and nutrition insecurity are deeply interconnected. The World Food Programme indicates that 65% of acutely nutrition-insecure people reside in fragile or conflict-affected countries, reaffirming that conflict is a primary driver of malnutrition globally. Conversely, nutrition insecurity can exacerbate conflicts, by increasing the cost of mounting an insurgency, leading to the victimization of people who produce and hold food. Violent extremist organizations may exploit food scarcity to recruit individuals by offering nutrition and financial incentives. With over 50+ active conflicts globally, global pressure to increase NATO investment to address current challenges, and on the heals of the G20 Alliance on Hunger and Poverty, expect greater focus on nutrition as a peace enabler and form of soft power for peace.

What to watch:

• In 2024, the Munich Security Conference created a novel two-year taskforce to address the increasingly complex intersection of food and nutrition systems, geopolitics, and security. With a mandate to elevate food and nutrition security in security discourse, develop geopolitically informed solutions and promote policy reform, this taskforce will no doubt shape the agenda of the 61^st Munich Security Conference in February, bringing much needed integration of nutrition considerations in global security policy and planning.
• Longstanding nutrition leader Canada will host this year’s G7 Summit in June. While the major themes of this year’s Summit are yet to be declared, peace and security are enduring topics, creating space for conversation on the key drivers of conflict and peace. Canada may also build on its Charlevoix commitment to girls’ education in conflict by looking at the enablers of education, including early nutrition programs.
• Finally, the newly formed G20 Alliance on Hunger and Poverty is expected to reconvene for its first summit on the margins of the Second World Social Summit from November 4-6 in Qatar, and the South Africa G20 Presidency is expected to place a significant emphasis on food and nutrition security.

2025 will not be an easy year, as changing geopolitics and new governments across several G7 countries mean the space for multilateral action may stall before finding new footing. That said, there is reason for considerable hope as we head into this year, and the final five-year sprint to achieving the SDGs.

A few things are clear: solutions exist that are scalable and sustainable. Courageous leaders, frontline workers, and advocates abound. Resources may be scarce, but the global community is continuing to push for more rigor in our work, and more innovation in our financing approaches.

Now is the time to put our collective hands to plough and carry on.

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