South Asia continues to face an enduring burden of malnutrition in all its forms—undernutrition, micronutrient deficiencies, and a steady increase in overweight and obesity and non-communicable diseases. Over 1 billion people in South Asia cannot afford a healthy diet. While many promising solutions have emerged, translating them into sustained, large-scale impact remains a challenge.
Although there is a strong evidence base on effective interventions to improve nutrition outcomes, evidence of their implementation and scale‑up in real‑world settings remains inconsistent. Success depends not only on having proven solutions but also on systems, leadership, sustainable financing, and accountability mechanisms to support widespread delivery.
As the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development nears and as South Asia navigates the challenges of climate change, food system disruptions, and economic instability, the need for effective, scalable, and sustainable nutrition action has never been more urgent.
Malnutrition in all its forms continues to be a major public health challenge worldwide, and progress on improving it has been very slow, with no country on track to meet global nutrition goals and the number of people affected by hunger or unable to afford a healthy diet rising in recent years.
On 27 May 2025, the second episode of Bincang Pangan Sehat Lestari (Talk Series on Sustainable and healthy diets) brought together experts, policy makers, practitioners, and development partners to discuss the environmental perspectives on Indonesia’s school meal program (MBG). The seminar saw active participation, with attendees engaging in panel discussions. Over 30 Participants attended the seminar in person, and over 500 participants from sub national food agencies and NGOs attended it online.
THE OPPORTUNITY In Pakistan, where wheat is a daily staple, an invisible crisis is unfolding. Over 60 million people suffer from inadequate zinc intake, contributing to malnutrition and economic losses of nearly 3% of the country’s GDP. Zinc deficien cy plays a critical role in stunted growth among children, leading to impaired cognitive development that hampers learning abilities and future economic opportunities.
Indonesia’s 2025 update of its Food Security and Vulnerability Atlas (FSVA) marks a transformative leap in the nation’s
commitment to building a resilient, data-driven food system. While the FSVA has been updated annually in previous years, the 2025 edition introduces major innovations, including the use of village-level data for over 83,000 villages, expanded sub-district analysis, and the integration of new composite indicators and predictive modeling. These advances enable the more precise identification of food-insecure areas, supporting targeted actions aligned with national priorities, such as reducing stunting, alleviating poverty, and promoting rural development. With these enhancements, FSVA 2025 strengthens Indonesia’s capacity to deliver evidence-based, locally tailored
interventions across all levels of government.
Did you know that nearly 90% of soybeans (3 million tonnes) in Indonesia are still imported? Soybean is dominantly used to produce tempeh – a traditional food as one of the main plant protein sources with high nutritional value and has been consumed in Indonesia since the 16th century. The consumption of tempeh in Indonesia holds deep historical and cultural significance, yet ironically it currently relies on imported soybean from North and South America. GAIN Indonesia is currently working in 2 provinces on diversifying bean supply for tempeh production to increase resilience of tempeh production.
The Nutrition for Growth (N4G) Summit 2025 is set to be a defining global event, providing a vital platform for countries to reaffirm and strengthen their commitments toward ending all forms of malnutrition. This summit holds global significance as it seeks to accelerate progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly goals related to nutrition, health, and sustainable food systems. For Indonesia, the 2025 Summit represents an opportunity to build upon and deepen its commitments from previous summits, specifically targeting persistent challenges such as stunting, wasting, obesity, and anemia, while reinforcing systemic integration of nutrition within broader health and social protection frameworks.
The world is facing multiple interconnected crises, including climate change and escalating conflicts, which pose significant challenges to food systems. These issues highlight the need for systemic transformation to improve food security, nutrition, and environmental sustainability. In response, GAIN's Nourishing Food Pathways (NFP) programme aims to strengthen and support the implementation of food system pathways in 11 countries.
WHA Global Nutrition Stunting Target 2012-2025
Achieve a 40% reduction in the number of children under-5 who are stunted
WHA Global Nutrition Overweight Target 2012-2025
Ensure that there is no increase in childhood overweight
