GOOD NUTRITION IS THE FOUNDATION FOR HUMAN DEVELOPMENT. It is the critical ingredient every one of us needs to survive and to thrive. By 2030, Nutrition International aims to transform the lives of 1 billion people – especially women, adolescent girls and children – by improving their nutritional status.
Our 2018-2024 Strategic Plan, the first of two six-year plans to achieve that goal, details Nutrition International’s approach, interventions and outcomes. The accompanying Investment Case, the first for a nutrition organization, showcases Nutrition International’s low-cost, high-impact approach as well as our health and human capital impacts.
At Nutrition International we believe a better world is possible, but to build it we need to fundamentally change the way we approach development. We need to break down silos, disrupt the status quo, and put the people we serve – and the challenges they face – at the centre of all we do. In essence, we need to do development differently.
Chief of the SickKids Centre for Global Child Health
For nearly 30 years, this organization has been driven by technical expertise, global advocacy and thoughtful leadership to end malnutrition around the world, while putting the needs of people at the heart of its mission.
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health (Oakville North–Burlington)
Nutrition is fundamental in ensuring the development of vibrant societies. If children do not receive proper nutrition in their first 1,000 days of life their development is irreversibly stunted and they will never be able to catch up with their peers who have been nourished properly since birth. I am proud that Canada is taking action to ensure that more children all around the globe get the nutrition and the start at life they deserve.
Those at Nutrition International are working hard to respond to the global impacts COVID-19 has had on food security and nutrition. Thank you for all that you do around the world.
Founder & Partner, Blue like an Orange Sustainable Capital
Nutrition International has created a powerful investment case that will save lives, improve quality of life, and build the capacity of countries to lead their own fight against malnutrition.
Malnutrition is an urgent issue, it is a social justice issue, it is a gender issue – and the damage it causes has not yet been matched by the political or financial commitment required to end it, The current COVID-19 crisis has shown us the immediate need to advance the nutrition agenda – especially for women and children – to ensure they can continue to move forward instead of falling further behind. There is no time to waste.
Executive Director, RESULTS/RESULTS Educational Fund (REF)
Investing in nutrition and promoting gender equality is not only right, it’s smart. Empowered healthy girls and women will help the world achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
The voices of too many women and girls are missing from the global conversation because malnutrition is holding them back. When girls are well-nourished their potential to dream, to learn and to lead is unlocked, as is the possibility for a better future for all.
Nutrition International has created an audacious, first of its kind investment case designed to have a significant impact on achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. While bold, the organization’s recognized leadership, technical expertise and global influence put its targets well within reach.
When women and girls have full and equitable access to good nutrition they are better able to go to school, to complete their education and contribute more to the global economy. When women and girls are healthy and well-nourished, they can break down cycles of poverty and inequality and create a better world for everyone.
Scaling up the delivery of low-cost, high-impact nutrition interventions, prioritizing women, adolescent girls and children in Africa and Asia
Leverage
Integrating nutrition across sectors, strengthening local ownership and developing innovative approaches to scale
Influence
Combining research, technical assistance, advocacy and partnerships to improve policies, programs, and to increase resources for nutrition
Cross-cutting Gender Equality
Nutrition International believes that good nutrition and gender equality are mutually reinforcing; improving nutrition is critical to achieving gender equality, and in turn improving gender equality leads to improved nutrition.
Through the In-Kind Assistance program, NI procures approximately 500 million life-saving high-dose vitamin A capsules every year to children in about 60 countries through UNICEF. NI also works on product development and market shaping around VAS, including improving specifications and quality by collaborating with private sector suppliers.
Through iron and folic acid supplementation for pregnant women and capacity building of frontline health workers to promote and strengthen the implementation of safe delivery, newborn and postpartum care interventions, NI helps to make pregnancies and deliveries safer — and to improve the survival, nutritional status, growth and development of infants.
Through advocacy efforts and global awareness campaigns, NI draws attention to the importance of good nutrition in unlocking women and girls’ potential, and works with government to help create environments in which they feel empowered to grow, learn, earn and lead.
NI is a leader in adolescent nutrition, with established weekly iron and folic acid supplementation and nutrition education programs across Asia and Africa. To reach more adolescents, we seek to form innovative partnerships with those working in nutrition-sensitive areas to integrate nutrition into existing platforms.
NI actively seeks to identify gaps and provide timely, coordinated and expert support to build the capacity of countries to scale up nutrition interventions. We use a country-driven, coordinated approach to ensure that all partners committed to improving nutrition outcomes are connected and consulted, and that all systems for nutrition delivery are harmonized to achieve maximum impact.
Working closely with local and national governments, we fortify staple foods like wheat and maize flour, cooking oil, rice and condiments such as salt with iron, folic acid, zinc and other essential micronutrients in order to help reduce some of the most common micronutrient deficiencies globally in a simple, affordable and effective way.
0Number of years Nutrition International has been working at the leading edge of nutrition0Number of countries Nutrition International has impact in0Number of child deaths prevented thanks to Nutrition International interventions since 1992
Our Work in the World
Nutrition International maintains a country and or regional office and implements a range of nutrition programs in 10 core countries. We are among the largest providers of technical assistance to Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) countries, operating in an additional 11 countries. Nutrition International also procures as much as 75% of the world’s Vitamin A capsules and, through decades-long partnerships, distributes two annual doses in nearly 60 countries.
Africa
Ethiopia
Kenya
Nigeria
Senegal & Sahel
Tanzania
Asia
Bangladesh
India
Indonesia
Pakistan
Philippines
Our Partners
Nutrition International works in close partnership with academia, governments, international agencies, non-governmental organizations and the private sector. Here are examples of some of our international partners:
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