- 28/10/2024
Indonesia is confronting a pressing public health challenge that extends beyond diet: the impact of non- communicable diseases (NCDs) driven by lifestyle factors, including high sodium intake. This issue
is particularly concerning as many NCDs, such
as hypertension and cardiovascular disease, are preventable yet contribute significantly to the country’s morbidity and mortality rates. For instance, Indonesia’s stroke burden remains substantial, with a Disability- Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) rate of 3,809 per 100,000 people in 2021,1 one of the highest in Southeast Asia, reflecting the urgent need for targeted public health interventions.
- 16/10/2024
This convening paper summarises the contents and outcomes of a meeting series jointly organised by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN). The initiative aimed to foster exchange between policy advisors from both organisations who provide policy advice to governments on topics related to food systems transformation and governance.
- 07/10/2024
Approximately 11 million Nigerian children, or one-third of the population, experience severe child food poverty, significantly increasing their risk of malnutrition, including a 50% higher likelihood of wasting (UNICEF, 2024).
This mirrors a wider global issue, with 66 million children in low- and middle-income countries, including 23 million in Africa, attending school hungry every day (Bekri et al., 2023). Addressing this urgent crisis requires social protection interventions that combat child hunger and improve nutrition outcomes, such as school feeding programmes.
- 18/09/2024
Political economy dynamics—that is, conflicts and trade-offs across different interest groups that play an important role in the food system—permeate many decisions about food systems policy and implementation. Development practitioners working in the food systems space—inclusive of agriculture, nutrition, and environmental policies—need to be aware of these dynamics to be able to support policy advocacy, development, and implementation.
- 11/09/2024
Enhancing nutrition for India’s working-age population through workforce nutrition practices can yield numerous benefits, including improved well-being for workers and their families, better productivity, and a stronger economy. Key pillars include access to healthy food, breastfeeding support, nutrition health checks, and nutrition education.
- 11/09/2024
This brief describes a Government of India initiative – the Healthy and Hygienic Food Streets (HHFS) programme that aims to make the country’s street food safer. It shares some of GAIN’s recent contributions to these efforts and provides some implications for national and state governments to consider.
- 10/09/2024
Environmental factors impact human health and nutrition through various pathways, and these impacts can be felt disproportionately by already vulnerable groups like women and children.
- 27/08/2024
As a follow-on to the core report ‘The Case for Investment in Nutritious Food Value Chains: An Opportunity for Gender Impact’, GAIN and SAGANA are publishing the nine case studies showcasing the business and impact case for gender-smart nutrition investments.
- 27/08/2024
This brief explains some key findings and recommendations from a recent roadmap report on FLW reduction produced by the Ministry of National Development Planning (BAPPENAS), with key partnerships from the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN). It highlights the crucial role of coordinated efforts in achieving the desired reduction in FLW and thereby mitigating its environmental and economic impacts.
- 16/08/2024
While improved nutrition is central to achieving many development goals, investment in nutrition currently falls far short of what is needed. One group of actors that could potentially help address this is development finance institutions (DFIs): specialised financial organisations that promote sustainable development by providing capital, usually for private-sector-led projects. DFIs seem like promising actors to support nutrition: they are already active in low- and middle-income countries, invest in adjacent sectors like agriculture, and have large financial resources. However, to date DFIs have not been very active in investing in nutrition-supporting businesses and funds. This paper seeks to understand the barriers to investment in nutrition-related projects and develop concrete solutions to unlock funding through a mapping of DFIs’ approaches combined with in-depth interviews with several DFI representatives.
