In a significant step towards addressing malnutrition, the United Nations adopted Minimum Dietary Diversity as a Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) indicator. Globally, almost 3 billion people are unable to access and afford a healthy diet. Micronutrient deficiencies, caused in large part by inadequate diets is one of the leading factors in malnutrition globally. Poor diets also account for a global rise in non-communicable diseases and contribute significantly to premature mortality, worldwide.
Despite the central importance of healthy diets, until recently, global efforts towards addressing malnutrition lacked standardised metrics to effectively track diet quality. The adoption of Minimum Dietary Diversity in the SDG framework will now give governments, policy makers and international organisations a key tool to formulate evidence-based strategies that can improve diets and help reduce malnutrition.
Lawrence Haddad, Executive Director, Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition -
Better diets are the key to unlock so many of the health, development and sustainability challenges facing humanity. For the first time we now have a tool that can track that for women, make improvement measurable and give healthier diets the status they merit in food system development. Congratulations to all involved. Now let’s make it happen for the 3 billion plus who are denied them.
The Minimum Dietary Diversity indicator is used to track whether people are consuming minimally diverse diets, which is strongly associated with improved nutrient adequacy. Under joint custodianship of FAO and UNICEF, it is tracked among women, primarily of reproductive age (15-49 years) and young children aged 6-23 months.
Big Step for Nutrition Data
The data supporting this milestone was gathered using the Diet Quality Questionnaire (DQQ), a short country-adapted set of questions developed under the Global Diet Quality Project, a collaboration between Gallup, Harvard University, and the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition.
Anna Herforth, Principal Investigator while at Harvard –
The success of finally getting healthy diets into the world’s global targets for humanity is due to two innovations: a universally meaningful indicator, and a universally feasible and valid method for collecting the data. We have known for a long time that healthy diets are critical for reaching the SDGs…but this is the first time we have been able to collect data on what people eat across countries.
Andrew Rzepa, Partner at Gallup -
For the first time ever, we are filling a critical data gap that has long hindered effective nutrition interventions. This move strengthens the global evidence needed to drive meaningful action in food security and public health.
The DQQ has been integrated into large-scale surveys including the Gallup World Poll, the Demographic and Health Surveys, and the World Bank Living Standards Measurement Study Surveys, with data already available in more than 90 countries.
With the adoption of the Minimum Diet Diversity indicator, we have taken a major step forward, equipping governments, policy makers and civil society to make informed decisions and draft evidence-based strategies on nutrition and public health.