Global Nutrition Report 2022 [Latest Report - UPSC Notes]

The Global Nutrition Report is the world’s leading independent assessment of the state of global nutrition. It was conceived following the first Nutrition for Growth Initiative Summit (N4G) in 2013. 

Global Nutrition Report (Latest)

The Global Nutrition Report 2022 was released in January 2023. As per the report, India is ‘on course’ to meet three of the global nutrition targets for maternal, infant and young child nutrition. However, there has been no progress towards reducing anaemia among women of reproductive age. Below you can get a detailed assessment of the report.

Get the list of other important Reports Published by International Organisations at the linked article. 

In this article, we shall discuss in detail the overview of the Global Nutrition Report and aspects of its latest edition. Aspirants for IAS Exam must carefully go through this article as it is an important topic from the UPSC examination perspective.

Global Nutrition Report 2022 [UPSC Notes]:-Download PDF Here

Global Nutrition Report – An Overview

The Global Nutrition Report was conceived in 2013 as a mechanism for tracking the commitments made by 100 stakeholders spanning governments, aid donors, civil society, the UN and businesses. It is a multi-stakeholder initiative, consisting of a Stakeholder Group, Independent Expert Group and Report Secretariat.

Given below is a brief overview of the Global Nutrition Report:

What is the mission of the Global Nutrition Report?

The Global Nutrition Report drives greater action to end malnutrition in all its forms and is responsible for assessing the state of global nutrition. 

What is the key objective of the Global Nutrition Report (GNR)?

The report is released based on data analysis done every year to cast light on the areas of both, progression and challenges. It aims to inspire the Government and other concerned authorities to take the required steps to completely abolish malnutrition. 

What are the Global Nutrition Targets?

Concerned with the accelerated issue of malnutrition across the globe, the World Health Assembly in 2012 endorsed and specified a set of six global nutrition targets that are to be achieved by 2025:

• 40% reduction in stunning for children who are below 5 years of age
• Achieve a 50% reduction of anaemia in women of reproductive age
• Achieving a 30% reduction in the low birth weight 
• Ensuring no increase in childhood overweight
• Increase the rate of exclusive breastfeeding in the first 6 months up to at least 50%
• Reduce and maintain childhood wasting to less than 5%

Given below are links to the other important reports released by various International Organisations that can help candidates with their UPSC preparation:

Global Nutrition Report 2022

The 2022 Global Nutrition Report was published in January 2023. The highlights of the report are given below.

• People were affected by hunger in 2021 – 768 million
• People unable to afford a healthy diet in 2020 – 3.1 billion
• 29.3% of the world’s population, that is approx. 2.3 billion people, were moderately or severely food insecure in 2021, an increase from the 25.4% figure before the covid-19 pandemic.
• Around 40% of all adults and 20% of all children are now overweight or obese. Obesity and diet-related non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are increasing in prevalence.
• Global conflict conditions such as the Ukraine crisis and climate change continue to be the key drivers of this increase in malnutrition, while policy interventions are not helping to reverse this trend.
• 2021 was named the Nutrition Year of Action.
• The world’s first independent nutrition accountability framework (NAF) was created under the aegis of the GNR to ensure that commitments translate into transformative change.
• Key recommendations of the GNR 2022 include:
  • Far greater attention on food security that truly includes nutrition security in commitment-making.
  • Diet quality should be screened when assessing food security interventions, in order to equitably address hunger and diet-related diseases.
  • Transformative policies for food systems to ensure universal access to healthy, affordable and sustainably produced food. These policies include:
    • Crop diversification
    • Improving the nutrient profile of products through reformulation and fortification
    • School meals
    • Regulating labelling, marketing and advertising practices.

Global Nutrition Report 2022 – India’s Position

India’s position regarding nutrition targets is illustrated by the following image.

Image source: globalnutritionreport.org

• India is ‘on course’ to achieving targets under the following heads:
  • Childhood stunting (But at 34.7%, the figure is still higher than the Asian average)
  • Childhood overweight (1.6% of children under 5 years are overweight)
  • Exclusive breastfeeding (58% of infants aged 0 to 5 months exclusively breastfed)
• India has shown no progress in reducing anaemia and childhood wasting.
  • 53% of women between the ages of 15 and 49 are affected by anaemia.
  • 17.3% of children under 5 years of age affected with wasting, this is among the highest in the world.
• India has demonstrated ‘limited progress’ towards achieving diet-related non-communicable disease (NCD) targets.
  • 6.2% of adult women are living with obesity.
  • 3.5% of adult men are living with obesity.
  • 9% of adult women and 10.2% of adult men are affected by diabetes.

Global Nutrition Report 2021

The major highlights of the GNR 2021 are as follows:

• The global nutrition targets will mostly not be achieved by 2025 at the current rate of progress shown by nations.
• Seven countries are on track to meet 4 of the 6 maternal, infant and young child nutrition targets by 2025, while no country is ‘on track’ to curb the increase in adult obesity or achieve a 30% relative reduction in salt/sodium intake.
• Impact of Covid-19: 155 million people have been pushed into extreme poverty; people with diet-related chronic diseases experience worse Covid-19 outcomes.
• There has hardly been any improvement in diets in the previous decade.
• One-fourth of all deaths among adults can be attributed to poor diets.
• Food production produces one-third of all greenhouse gas emissions globally.
• No region is on track to meet the Sustainable Development Goals aimed at limiting health and environmental burdens related to diets and the food system.

Global Nutrition Report 2021 – India’s Position

• More than 50% of Indian women in the age group 15-49 years are anaemic.
• More than 17% of children under 5 years of age are affected by childhood wasting.
  • India has made no progress in reducing childhood wasting.
• India is ‘on course’ to meet the target for childhood stunting and childhood overweight.
• India is meeting 7 of the 13 global nutrition targets which include sodium intake, raised blood pressure (both men and women), obesity (both men and women) and diabetes (both men and women).

Global Nutrition Report 2020 – Key Observations for UPSC

The 2020 Global Nutrition Report examines the critical role of addressing inequity to end malnutrition in all its forms. Inequity is a cause of malnutrition – both undernutrition and overweight, obesity and other diet-related chronic diseases.

Although the 2020 report was written before the Coronavirus pandemic situation, it emphasises nutritional well-being for all and the fact that COVID-19 does not treat us equally. The undernourished are more at risk of getting affected by such viruses because of weak metabolism.

Discussed further below are the important points and observations made by the data collected for India in the 2020 report. 

Global Nutrition Report 2020 – India’s Status

Of the set targets based on which the report is formed, India succeeded with only two and the condition for the rest was reported to worsen even further. 

The targets which were found on the track included:

• Stunting percentage for children below the age of 5 years
• Under-5 overweight

The targets where either no progression was made or the conditions worsened further include:

• WRA anaemia
• Under-5 wasting
• Adult male and female obesity
• Adult male and female diabetes

Given below are some important pointers mentioned in the Global Nutrition Report 2020 for India:

• Although India is on course to meet the target for stunting, 34.7% of children under 5 years of age are still affected, which is higher than the average for the Asia region (21.8%)
• India has made no progress towards achieving the target for wasting, with 17.3% of children under 5 years of age affected, which is higher than the average for the Asia region (9.1%) and also one of the highest in the world
• As for overweight children below the age of 5 years, India is on track with the developments with just a 1.6% figure
•  The country has even shown limited progress towards achieving the diet-related non-communicable disease (NCD) targets
• In terms of obesity in adults, India has not made much progress, with an estimated 5.1% of adult women and 2.7% of adult men living with obesity. At the same time, diabetes is estimated to affect 8.3% of adult women and 9.1% of adult men
• No progress has been made towards achieving the target of reducing anaemia among women of reproductive age, with 51.4% of women aged 15 to 49 years now affected

Global Nutrition Report 2022 [UPSC Notes]:-Download PDF Here

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