2025 Nutrition for Growth Summit to address global malnutrition crisis and funding shortfall

Amid rising global malnutrition rates and significant funding shortfalls, France will host this year’s Nutrition for Growth (N4G) Summit (27–28 March). Held every four years, the summit faces financial uncertainty after key donors, including the US and the UK, withdrew their pledges. The previous summit raised US$27 billion, but ongoing conflicts and the global food crisis have made the fight against malnutrition even more pressing.

UK nutrition aid has decreased from £999 million (US$1.29 billion) in 2009 to £24 million (US$31 million) in 2023. Aid peaked at £146 million (US$188.6 million) in 2017. The government’s Research Briefing says it “will not make a financial commitment at the N4G summit.”

Additionally, it states that future spending has not yet been determined. However, the government says it “plans to integrate nutrition across its international development work.”

At the same time, experts stress the need for alternative funding sources to fill the gap. This includes development banks and private sector investment. Yet, a report by the Associated Press suggests private donors are unlikely to do so. When considering the gap left by the USAID freeze and dissolution, the report says, “the numbers don’t add up.”

Nutrition Insight recently looked at a call for reform by humanitarian organizations. Without action, many organizations said they could not continue providing aid.

The World Bank says every dollar invested in nutrition can generate US$23 in economic returns, and reducing stunting could increase GDP by 4–11% in Asia and Africa.Furthermore, a recent World Bank investment framework for global nutrition said it needs a US$128 billion investment over ten years to scale up nutrition interventions. This equates to another US$13 billion in aid funding per year, globally. Domestic and development funding for nutrition is expected to rise slightly, from US$6.3 billion in 2025 to US$7.9 billion annually by 2034. Still, the World Bank reveals that “this will fall far short of the needed financing.”

Addressing malnutrition globally

The N4G will bring together various stakeholders from 30 countries, including 15 from the EU, which can help increase funding to bridge the shortfall in nutrition.

“We want the N4G Paris Summit to be a turning point in nutrition, a summit that brings about a paradigm shift. The goal is to integrate nutrition policies into the development agenda better while addressing all forms of malnutrition, including overweight and obesity,” comments Brieuc Pont, special envoy and secretary-general of the N4G Summit.

Malnutrition is the main cause of infant mortality, causing 45% of deaths among children under five, reveals the WHO. 

The Permanent Mission of France to the UN in New York believes fighting malnutrition, part of the 2030 Agenda, can be successful with political determination and adequate resources. The WHO recently told us that optimal nutrition is vital to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals, one of which is to “create a world free from hunger” by 2030.

According to the World Bank, investing in nutrition during the first 1,000 days of life has a major positive impact on poverty alleviation, economic growth, and education. Every dollar invested can generate US$23 in economic returns, and reducing stunting could increase GDP by 4–11% in Asia and Africa.

Nutrition 4 Growth governance (Image credit: GAIN).Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), N4G’s partner, says it will harness private sector capacity to transform food systems and tackle malnutrition. “Businesses large and small are the main drivers behind the action, investment, and financial flows that supply our diets everywhere.”

Role of private sector

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) has revealed that its member companies who made 2021 commitments are on track to deliver their healthy and sustainable food system pledges. 

The preliminary inventory shows that the majority of the commitments have been met, with the 2030 ones in line. Key progress includes the availability of fortified foods, improved nutritional quality, and expanded healthier food options. 

WBCSD credits the progress to collaboration across the value chain, including policymakers and civil society actors. It spotlights some success points: 

dsm-firmenich’s commitment to close the micronutrient gap of 800 million vulnerable people by 2030.

Griffith Foods wants to meet health and nutrition criteria in 56% of its final products.

Cargill is the first supplier in the world whose whole edible oils portfolio satisfies the WHO’s best practice standard for industrially produced trans-fatty acids.

The majority of WBCSD members’ commitments have been met, it says, with the 2030 ones in line.Ajinomoto has nearly achieved its 2030 commitment to increase the percentage of products with high nutritional value. 

Opportunities and need for better data systems

The Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement underlines that 2.8 billion people could not afford a healthy diet last year. With stagnated progress in malnutrition, the organization has published “Recommendations for Developing Commitments on Nutrition, Health, and Social Protection” for N4G.

SUN Movement believes the N4G Summit presents an opportunity to reexamine nutrition commitments and spot areas that need more attention. At the last summit, 181 stakeholders made 416 new nutrition commitments, with 67% focused on health (breastfeeding implementation, iron supplementation, malnutrition prevention and treatment, and improving social and health services).

The next summit calls on nations to strengthen their commitments, prioritizing nutrition integration and health workforce capacity building. The commitment guide for the 2021 summit did not explicitly include social protection, but the Paris summit provides an opportunity to accelerate progress on malnutrition by leveraging social protection systems.

The SUN Movement calls for multisectoral coherence and adaptive systems to fight malnutrition in all its forms. It says stakeholders should increase financial investment focused on nutrition integration, such as in national health plans, strengthen governance to integrate nutrition actions and boost the overall social protection system for those with the highest unmet needs — pregnant and breastfeeding women and young children.

Nutrition also requires better data surveillance, so the organization urges governments and international organizations to build better data collection and analysis systems.

The Center for Global Development says the nutrition-financing landscape is complex and fragmented, resulting in duplication and inefficiencies. “The absence of a comprehensive data source to systematically track nutrition financing flows further exacerbates these challenges.”