Malnutrition remains a scourge in all regions of the world. More than 3.1 billion people — 42% of the global population — cannot afford a healthy diet, and the world is not on track to meet Sustainable Development Goal 2 to achieve zero hunger.
Unhealthy diets underpin many critical public health challenges, including undernutrition, overweight, obesity, micronutrient deficiencies, and diet-related noncommunicable diseases. The state of global diets and nutrition has worsened as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, endemic food price inflation, conflicts, and more frequent extreme weather events due to climate change.
It is widely understood that malnutrition is holding communities back — from escaping poverty, from increasing their productivity, and from leading healthy lives. Following on the heels of the 2024 Health Financing Forum hosted by the World Bank, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the Global Financing Facility on investing in health in the post-COVID era, this event — produced by Devex in partnership with CGIAR and IFPRI — will convene nutrition and climate experts to discuss the vital role of healthy diets; showcase a suite of proven solutions across the agrifood value chain for improving diets in low- and middle-income countries; and examine how best to scale these solutions so that everyone can reap the benefits of sustainable healthy diets.