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
Stunting and overweight in children under five years of age remain major malnutrition challenges in the 12 countries in Africa and Asia where GAIN operates: Bangladesh, Benin, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Pakistan, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda. These forms of malnutrition appear in two of the six Global Nutrition Targets of the World Health Assembly (WHA), which are meant to be achieved by 2025. This paper evaluates progress towards these two WHA goals in these 12 countries, identifies lessons learned, and offers actionable insights for evidence-based policymaking.
While some countries have successfully reduced stunting and overweight, overall progress, particularly on stunting, remains slow. Using globally accepted methodologies, we find that of the 12 countries studied only Kenya is on track to meet the WHA stunting target by 2025, while the other 11 countries are classified as off track, having made some progress. For child overweight, nine countries, namely Ethiopia, Indonesia, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Pakistan, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda are on track, while the remaining three are off track.
Through deep dives into selected cases, this paper emphasises the need for multi-sectoral approaches, strong political commitment, and targeted interventions. A shift towards integrated, data-driven, and context-specific solutions is crucial.
Accelerated, evidence-based action must be taken. This includes highlighting where efforts need to concentrate, guiding policy and programme adjustments, and enabling more targeted interventions to help countries achieve and surpass the reductions in child stunting and the limitations on the rates of child overweight embodied in the WHA 2025 nutrition targets.
GAIN’s NIS Project supports organizations and small businesses across six countries to integrate nutrition into food systems and improve outcomes.
GAIN’s NIS Project uses a Market Systems Development approach to improve food systems and increase inclusivity and nutrition outcomes. It leverages the extensive experience GAIN has developed over the years of providing quality technical assistance, networking, knowledge sharing, building partner capacity, and providing various tools and resources to MSMEs to attach a ‘nutrition lens’ to the work of ESOs in Nigeria, Benin, Uganda, Ethiopia, Mozambique, and Kenya.
ESOs adopt a nutrition lens in their MSME support strategies.
ESOs integrate tools, knowledge, and resources developed by GAIN to support MSMEs.
ESOs understand the impact of MSMEs on food systems and how to invest in nutrition-focused enterprises.
Alliances of local partners on MSME programming will be operational in GAIN countries.
Enhancing the capacity of ESOs to provide nutrition-focused technical support to MSMEs.
Facilitating ESOs to access a wide range of tools and resources.
Creating alliances by connecting ESOs to industry peers to facilitate knowledge exchange.
Providing access to a network of business & industry leaders for business-to-business mentorship.
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Incorporated in 2018, Ikore is an International Development Organization offering innovative solutions to promote sustainable social and enterprise development across Nigeria and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Expected Outcomes
Support 150 MSMEs to:
Incorporated in 2016, Inspire Decisions Consulting Limited (IDC) is a rapidly growing development firm that supports international donors, donor-funded projects, and public and private sector organisations in achieving their development goals and performance targets.
Expected Outcomes
Nakuru Box, founded in 2019, is an innovation hub that provides a collaborative and professional space for entrepreneurs, freelancers, and startups.
Expected Outcomes
Afriscope Research Limited, founded in 2015, is a leading Afrocentric institution dedicated to helping small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) thrive through specialized business advisory services.
Expected Outcomes
Gapi-SI is a Development Financial Institution (DFI) registered with the Bank of Mozambique under the Investment Company (SI) category, with over three decades of experience in development financing
Expected Outcomes
The Instituto para a Promoção das Pequenas e Médias Empresas (IPEME) is a Mozambican public institution established in 2008 under the Ministry of Industry and Commerce to support the growth and development of small enterprises.
Expected Outcomes
Groupe REPONSE is a consulting firm founded in 2021. It specialises in business affairs, organisation, quality management, and food safety. Based in Benin and operating independently, it focuses on implementing progress-driven approaches to sustainably improve the quality and performance of individuals and organisations.
Expected Outcomes
Founded in 1961, the Université d'Abomey-Calavi (UAC) is Benin's first and largest public university. UAC's primary missions include training executives, conducting scientific research, and contributing to the country's economic development.
Expected Outcomes
AWAN is a membership organisation that focuses on advancing the socio-economic status of women through the promotion of a gender-inclusive Agri-food value chain. The organisation has 300 members, all women entrepreneurs operating in agri-food value chains.
Partnership Areas
Expected Outcomes
Founded in 2014, CWEN is a non-profit organisation that provides business information, mentorship, and technical support. It leverages partnerships and linkages for rural and urban youth and women entrepreneurs in Uganda to reach greater markets, create growing revenues, and promote their businesses with a focus on value addition and skills development.
Expected Outcomes
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Project Manager, Nutrition Impact at Scale, GAIN
Project Coordinator, Nutrition Impact at Scale, GAIN
A Toolkit Supporting the Design of More Coherent Food Policies
Food systems policy coherence is the alignment of policies that affect the food system with the aim of achieving health, environmental, social, and economic goals, to ensure that policies designed to improve one food system outcome do not undermine others and, where possible, take advantage of synergies across policy areas to achieve better outcomes for all.
Policy coherence is fundamental for effective food systems transformation. Policy incoherence can lead to inefficiency and lower likelihood of achieving policy goals, as well as missed opportunities for leveraging synergies across policy areas where they exist. As governments worldwide increasingly recognise the interconnected nature of food systems issues, there is growing acknowledgment of the need for more coherent policies: policies designed to improve one food systems outcome must not inadvertently undermine others but instead reinforce them.
Despite this need, assessing the extent of coherence in a country’s food policy landscape is challenging. GAIN, in collaboration with AKADEMIYA2063, thus created a standardised, relatively easy-to-use tool for doing so.
This toolkit, which has been tested in multiple countries in Africa and Asia, offers a practical methodology to assess food systems policy coherence and provide actionable recommendations for enhancing it.
The Food Systems Policy Coherence Diagnostic Tool consists of two modules:
The tool is completed by reviewing key policy documents and consulting with key informants, followed by stakeholder validation and ongoing engagement to craft locally relevant, actionable recommendations for improving policy coherence.
Accompanied by a user’s manual, scoring guidelines, and examples, the toolkit aims to provide a ready-to-use, feasible, and actionable way to understand policy coherence.
While achieving perfect coherence among all food-related policies across all outcomes is unlikely—and potentially undesirable, given the costs associated with coordination and alignment—by identifying and managing critical synergies and trade-offs, governments can better align efforts towards achieving key goals.
Policy coherence – the alignment of policies across sectors with joint goals – is fundamental for effective food systems transformation. A new Food Systems Policy Coherence Diagnostic toolkit offers a practical way to assess food systems policy coherence and provide actionable recommendations for enhancing it.
The toolkit consists of three documents: the two modules of the tool itself, the scoring guide, and the user’s manual for applying the tool.
The findings, ideas, and conclusions presented in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect positions or policies of any of the agencies mentioned below.
Micronutrient deficiency is a major risk factor for poor pregnancy outcomes, which are the strongest predictor of malnutrition in childhood. Multiple Micronutrient Supplements (MMS) support adequate nutrient status in pregnancy and have been shown to reduce the prevalence of low birth weight, preterm birth, stillbirths, infants born small for gestational age (SGA), and 6-month infant mortality.
The project is funded by the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), aims to establish a sustainable social business model for Multiple Micronutrient Supplements for pregnant women through pharmacy networks in Bangladesh. By 2024, the project has successfully reached 900,000 pregnant women and is targeting an additional 1.5 million pregnant women by 2028. GAIN is implementing the initiative in collaboration with SMC—social marketing company operating through over 23,000 Star Network providers across the country — alongside technical partner by Sight and Life (SAL) and the Government of Bangladesh. This public-private partnership collaborates closely to ensure evidence-based design of the programme and supports improvements in antenatal care and MMS uptake more broadly.
GAIN's MMS project currently encompasses the following synergistic work areas:
i) Quality local Production and availability:
Ensuring quality local production and distribution through SMC’s extensive franchise pharmacy network and healthcare providers, to make Multiple Micronutrient Supplements (Brand name: ‘FullCare’) accessible to every pregnant woman in Bangladesh.
ii) Demand Generation:
Use evidence-based promotional techniques, such as scientific seminars to build capacity healthcare providers and pharmacists on MMS health benefits. This is complemented by in-store product activation, evidence-based sales pitches, and merchandising to raise consumer awareness and value for MMS use.
iii) Enabling Environment to shape policy around MMS:
Through a Technical Advisory Group (TAG) influence policy, set standards, ensure high-quality local MMS production, and advocate for its inclusion in Bangladesh’s Essential Medicines List and national guidelines. Additionally, the National Technical Committee (NTC) led by the National Nutrition Services (NNS) provides technical and strategic direction for the program and advocates for MMS inclusion in various policies and guidelines.
iv) Scaling up Market-based Model:
By the Year 2028, MMS 2.0 aims to increase the sales and demand for multiple micronutrient supplements (MMS), increase adherence, and establish a sustainable, market-based model driven by increasing sales margins and cost reduction. The initiative targets annual sales exceeding 40 million tablets, aiming to reach between 300,000 and 500,000 pregnant women—representing 10% to 18% of pregnancies in Bangladesh. The project will cover 41% of the total pharmacy network, including the SMC Star Network, and will implement community-based antenatal care (ANC) services across 137 Upazilas (sub-districts), reaching over 200,000 pregnant women. Through these efforts, the cost per woman for ANC services and MMS is expected to reduce from USD 13.07 to USD 4.03 by 2028. Furthermore, MMS is expected to be fully integrated into national policies, including the National Plan of Action on Nutrition (NPAN3), the 2nd National Nutrition Program (NNP) and the Essential Medicines List (EML), ensuring long-term impact and sustainability.
GAIN’s mission is to advance nutrition outcomes by improving the consumption of nutritious and safe food.
From fast food to fresh: How to shift Kenya's eating habits to nutritious, farm-to-fork foods
GAIN has been contributing to improving the nutritional status of Kenyans since 2010, with an initial focus on supporting the Government of Kenya to introduce the fortification of maize flour, wheat flour, and edible oils. Since then, we have diversified our programmatic work to integrate various efforts into a food system approach that links access and demand for nutritious safe food.
These efforts have culminated in increased policy influence in about 15 out of the 47 Counties in Kenya, development of the Food Fortification Strategic Plan 2018-2022 and the establishment of Food Safety Coordination Committee in Counties. Over 100 SMEs have received tailored technical assistance, innovation accelerator capital or emergency funding to promote supply of healthy and safe foods. In addition, GAIN Kenya supported about 200,000 farmers to grow nutrient-enriched beans to enhance their availability. Also, GAIN has supported the development of a prototype Food System Dashboard which is housed in the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development. Moreover, GAIN partnered with Kenya Tea Development Agency and partners to support about 100,000 smallholder farmers, workers and their families within the tea zones in Kericho County to access safe and nutritious diets.
The Cost of Hunger in Africa (COHA) Kenya Study (2019) estimated a loss of Kenya Shillings 373.9 billion (USD 3.1 billion) equivalent to 6.9 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2014 due to child undernutrition. Childhood malnutrition results in reduced productivity, high costs of health-related treatment of malnutrition, and high education costs due to class repetition and absenteeism.
1 UNDERNUTRITION
Children bear the brunt of malnutrition, which negatively impacts their future productivity.
18%
Stunting
Low height for age.
5%
Wasting
Too thin for their height
5%
Underweight
Low weight for their age
2 MICRONUTRIENT DEFICIENCIES
Zinc, vitamin A, iron, and iodine are the most prevalent micronutrient deficiencies.
70% 
National zinc deficiency prevalence. 81.6% of preschool children under 5 years and 67.9% of pregnant women
41.6% 
of women of reproductive age, aged 15 to 49 years have anaemia, and 69% of children suffer from iron deficiency
22% 
children (6 -23 months) consume a minimum acceptable diet
3 OVERNUTRITION
Overweight and obesity and associated diet-related non- communicable diseases..
NON-COMMUNICABLE DISEASES related to diet continue to rise.
1 in 4 adults is overweight and/or obese
Only 5.2% of Kenyan adults consume the recommended five servings of fruit and vegetables per day
GAIN’s Strategy aims to transform food systems to make healthier diets from sustainable food systems accessible to all people and especially those whose are most vulnerable to shocks. By 2027, we aim to improve the access of 1.5 billion people to nutritionally enhanced staple foods, improve the access of 25 million people to healthier diets, and support positive food system change in 10 countries.
Kenya is one of the countries impacted by malnutrition.GAIN has been improving nutrition in Kenya since 2010, initially supporting the Government of Kenya in fortifying staple foods. Over time, GAIN has expanded its approach to strengthen food systems by enhancing access to and demand for nutritious, safe food. Through partnerships with governments, businesses, and civil society, GAIN works to sustainably improve food availability and consumption, especially for vulnerable populations. By supporting national and county governments with expertise in nutrition and policy development, GAIN plays a key role in shaping food systems governance and driving transformation.
GAIN Kenya has achieved remarkable progress in enhancing nutrition and health across the nation.
0
Beneficiaries reached (direct and indirect) across Kenya
0
People consuming safe foods (towards 7 M target)
0
Receiving nutrition-related national social protection services
GAIN’s strategy aims to transform food systems, making healthier diets accessible to all, especially the vulnerable.
Some of the key milestones in Kenya include:
1.5 Billion people with access to nutritionally enhanced staple foods.
7Million Kenyans with access to healthier diets.
Positive food system changes in 10/47 Counties.
A Dutch-funded project whose goal is to improve food security and contribute to the reduction of malnutrition of at least 5 million women of reproductive age and children under five in Benin, Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Mozambique.
Vegetables for All is a Dutch Government-funded five-year project that aims to improve dietary diversity for 1.1 million urban and peri-urban Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP) consumers by increasing consumption of vegetables in alignment with global guidelines
Scaling Up Nutrition Business Network (SBN) is the world’s leading private sector focused nutrition initiative. SBN is one of the six Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) networks (Government Network, UN Network, Academia and Research Network, Civil Society, and Donor Network).
Join us as we mark us mark International Women's Day celebrating the achievements of women around the world. We speak to some incredible female leaders around the world striving to #EmbraceEquity.
In this podcast series powered by the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition or GAIN, we will encounter a myriad of intersecting issues, themes, and solutions. We will hear from regular folks like farmers and mothers around the world trying to put nutritious food on the table for their families. We will also talk with food systems leaders, social entrepreneurs, thought leaders, and people like you.
Our work in Kenya is made possible through the strong collaboration and support of our valued partners across governments, development agencies, private sector, and civil society.
At GAIN Kenya, we’re dedicated to improving nutrition and food systems to ensure that every Kenyan has access to safe, nutritious food. Explore our work and join us in creating healthier diets for all.
Nairobi, Kenya
3rd Floor, 197 Lenana Place, Lenana Road
Box office: P.O. Box 13733 – 00800
Telephone +254 773 572 103
Country Director, Kenya
From March 27 to 28, 2025, The Government of France hosted the 2025 Nutrition for Growth (N4G) Summit in Paris. The N4G Summit is an international conference dedicated to defeating all forms of malnutrition by bringing together governments, international organisations, philanthropies, businesses, NGOs and other key stakeholders. Its objectives are to elevate nutrition as a key priority on the global development agenda and secure concrete political and financial commitments to accelerate progress against malnutrition.
In alignment with its mission to enhance nutrition outcomes by improving the consumption of nutritious and safe food for all people, GAIN registered two new commitments under the Nutrition Accountability Framework (NAF) to ensure accountability in achieving its objectives. These commitments build upon those that GAIN initially registered at the 2021 Tokyo N4G Summit.
