World Children’s Day 2025: Nourishing the Future

Every child deserves the chance to grow, learn, and thrive. Child nutrition providing the right quality and quantity of nutrients at the right time  is the foundation for healthy growth, brain development, and lifelong resilience. From exclusive breastfeeding in infancy to nutrient-rich diets in school-age years, proper nutrition fuels not just bodies, but minds, enabling children to reach their full potential.

From infancy to age 10, children’s nutritional needs evolve rapidly

See below:

The Challenge

Globally, millions of children face malnutrition in all its forms. Over 148 million under-5 are stunted, 45 million suffer from wasting, and 37 million are overweight reflecting both undernutrition and poor diet quality. In countries like Indonesia and Mozambique, high stunting rates persist alongside rising overweight prevalence, highlighting the urgent need for nutrition solutions that work for every child.
Families are increasingly challenged by rising food costs, urbanized diets high in processed foods, climate shocks, and gaps in food system policies. Children from low-income households and fragile contexts are disproportionately affected.

GAIN’s Approach: Making Food Systems Fit for Children

GAIN works to reshape food systems so they deliver nutritious, safe, and affordable diets for every child. By aligning what children eat with what food systems produce and promote, GAIN ensures that healthy food becomes the easy and desirable choice. 

Country Focus

Transforming school meals in Kagera, Tanzania

GAIN is improving access to diverse, nutritious diets for 41,675 students in 54 schools by connecting school feeding programmes with fortified maize millers and introducing biofortified crops like high-iron beans, Pro vitamin-A maize and orange-fleshed sweet potatoes. Plus, school gardens are helping children learn, grow, and eat healthier every day.

Multiple Micronutrient Supplements (MMS) in Bangladesh

GAIN’s Multiple Micronutrient Supplements (MMS) project is improving maternal and child nutrition in Bangladesh by making MMS affordable and accessible through local pharmacies. Working with the Social Marketing Company (SMC) and government partners, the project promotes locally produced MMS under the brand FullCare, now available in over 23,000 outlets nationwide. By combining policy advocacy, provider training, and consumer awareness, the initiative has already reached nearly one million pregnant women—helping reduce low birth weight and improve early child growth outcomes