ESA countries began implementing food fortification in the 1990s, starting with salt iodization and gradually expanding to include additional food vehicles. Today, of the 26 countries covered, 21 countries have mandatory fortification of salt, 13 of wheat flour, 10 of edible oil and maize flour, and 5 of sugar.Despite this progress, micronutrient deficiencies remain widespread across Eastern and Southern Africa, with persistently high levels of iron, vitamin A, zinc, folate, and iodine deficiencies.
To strengthen evidence and practice about local fresh food markets and food systems governance, in 2025, ICLEI CityFood, the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), and World Farmers Markets Coalition published two editions of a handbook about markets and resilient cities. The second edition comprises 31 city-market case studies and is structured around the CityFood Market Action Framework. Between May and December 2025, following the launch of the first edition, ICLEI CityFood and GAIN co-convened eight online sessions of a Community of Interest focused on markets and cities. The sessions were structured around four thematic areas: an introduction to how cities shape food markets; gender and social intersectionality; managing food waste; and access to nutrition. Across all eight sessions, a total of 327 participants from 27 cities and 56 organisations took part. This paper shares a summary of those prior sessions and signposts upcoming sessions
GAIN is pleased to announce its membership in the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty (GAAHP) bringing on board a nutrition and food systems lens for global efforts
Nigeria faces overlapping crises of climate change and malnutrition, with rising temperatures, erratic rainfall, and extreme weather reducing crop yields and pushing 30.6 million people toward severe food insecurity in 2026. Most climate and nutrition policies operate in silos, limiting coordinated action, while existing links remain largely analytical rather than practical. Integrating climate-smart agriculture, water management, and community resilience initiatives can create “win-win” outcomes, strengthening food security and health—but urgent collaboration across government, civil society, and the private sector is needed to turn commitments into local solutions.
For International Women’s Day 2026, GAIN aligns with the global theme “Rights. Justice. Action. For ALL Women and Girls”, highlighting how investing in nutrition supports women’s rights, strengthens agency, and drives long-term development.
The Future of Food Summit brings together global leaders to explore how food systems can be transformed to deliver food security while balancing environmental sustainability and economic growth.
World Pulses Day highlights the role of pulses in improving nutrition, supporting sustainable food systems, and strengthening livelihoods. Pulses are a key component of affordable, nutrient-dense diets and play an important role in addressing malnutrition, including micronutrient deficiencies and non-communicable diseases (NCDs)
Explore GAIN’s insights on food fortification, diet quality, and nutrition-sensitive food systems, and check back for related content marking World Pulses Day.
Food choices play a dual role in shaping both human health and environmental sustainability. At the individual level, diets that lack diversity, fall short of essential nutrients, contain excessive amounts of foods high in sugar, unhealthy fats, and salt, or fail to meet food safety standards, and can have serious negative consequences for health (Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, 2025; World Health Organization, n.d.). At the same time, the ways food is produced and consumed affect the environment, —contributing to land degradation, freshwater depletion, climate change, and biodiversity loss (Crippa et al., 2021; Tilman et al., 2017). These environmental impacts, in turn, influence which foods are available, accessible, and affordable, and can alter the nutrient density of crops (Beach et al., 2019; Smith & Myers, 2018), reinforcing this close connection between our food choices and the environment.
Latest Review Series reveals USD 11 Trillion Bill in Food System’s Hidden Costs, a Significant Underestimation
• A partial USD 11 trillion bill: According to FAO’s latest estimates, food systems cost the world over USD 11 trillion per year in hidden health, socioeconomic, and environmental burdens – an amount larger than the GDP of most major economies. However, this figure likely represents a substantial underestimation of true costs and benefits as it does not capture all relevant negative and positive impacts.
• Health costs are the largest contributor, but micronutrient malnutrition remains invisible: Diet-related diseases, premature mortality, and productivity losses from illness are the biggest drivers of these costs, yet we are still failing to measure the true price of micronutrient malnutrition.
• The equity crisis: Existing research and data are heavily skewed toward high-income countries, leaving the severe burdens in low- and middle-income nations largely hidden.
Global food systems generate significant socio-economic impacts (or externalities) – both positive and negative – which greatly vary across geographic regions, supply chains, and production systems.
