Tackling Undernutrition: Pioneering Prevention Efforts Towards Zero Hunger in Humanitarian Crisis

In 2012, the global community united to launch the Sustainable Development Goals, with Goal 2 aiming to achieve Zero Hunger by 2030. However, over the past 12 years,  progress has been insufficient. According to the recent State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report, up to 9.4% of the world’s population was undernourished last year, this equates to about 757 million people.   

As an organisation that funds research and innovation, we have been working on a food insecurity and undernutrition programme as our contribution to this major humanitarian issue.  We have chosen to focus specifically on prevention of undernutrition, through a multisectoral lens, as this area is both under-evidenced and under-invested, with enormous potential for driving change.  We launched our prevention of undernutrition programme in 2022, and we’re really excited to share an update on progress made so far. 

Our first project in this theme was in response to a request from humanitarian actors in East Africa who are grappling with food insecurity in the region.  To support their efforts, we commissioned a scoping review, conducted by a team led by Prof Reginald Adjetey Annan from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana. This review assessed the evidence linking food insecurity, malnutrition, ill health and mortality among women and children in humanitarian contexts. The findings highlighted the need for a more collaborative, multi-sectoral approach to reduce vulnerability, reinforcing the importance of prevention alongside treatment.  

For our major programme of work that aims to develop a decision framework and resource guide focused on preventing undernutrition among women and children in humanitarian contexts, we’ve been working closely with our partner, NutritionWorks. Throughout 2023, they conducted a comprehensive evidence review to identify “what works” in preventing undernutrition in such contexts. We’re excited that we can now share this report widely!   

In May 2024, we convened a meeting in Nairobi with food insecurity and nutrition experts from the region to help shape the content of the decision framework and guide (I wrote about this on LinkedIn).Since then, the NutritionWorks team have conducted numerous key informant interviews to further develop the framework.  We’ll be meeting with our Steering Committee members – comprising representatives from UN Agencies, NGOs and funders – in September for an initial validation of the framework and guide. Following this,  we’ll return to Nairobi in October to gather input and the perspective of our regional colleagues on the draft product, that we aim to launch by the end of the year or early next year.   

Phase 2 will involve testing the framework and guide, however significant planning remains as we determine the contexts, partners and protocol for this phase.  

The long-term consequences of childhood undernutrition can be severe, including impaired growth, cognitive deficits and higher risk of some non-communicable diseases. While the nutrition and health communities have made important strides in developing excellent treatment protocols to address undernutrition (including a few studies funded by Elrha), we are also equally committed to building the evidence base on prevention. No child or adult should ever go hungry, and we are dedicated to contributing to this goal.

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