The world pledged to end hunger and malnutrition by 2030, but we are far off track. Progress in the struggle against hunger and malnutrition is stagnating, the number of undernourished people has been rising since 2015, while at the same time obesity, and associated diseases are surging.

The 2018 Accelerating the End of Hunger and Malnutrition event, jointly organised by IFPRI and the FAO, aimed to address these issues alongside the broader issue of food security.

A range of efforts will be needed to address the challenges to acceleration:

• Promotion of resilient development to cope with conflict and natural disasters
• Multisectoral engagement that brings together all stakeholders, including the private sector
• Incentives for diversified agricultural production—in particular, production of underutilized and neglected species
• Incentives for processors and retailers to supply healthy foods
• More and better data—and a willingness to act in the absence of perfect data
• Scaling up of small-scale actions shown to work
• Strengthened governance at all levels

GODAN Executive Director Andre Laperriere was invited to participate in a panel discussion on  Tracking Progress with New Tools and Data, alongside: Namukolo Covic, Senior Research Coordinator, IFPRI, Ethiopia; David Pelletier, Professor of Nutrition Policy, Cornell University, and President, Society for Implementation Science in Nutrition, USA; and, Sok Silo, Deputy Secretary General, Council for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD), Office of the Council of Ministers, Cambodia.

The event featured 119 speakers and welcomed more than 650 participants from over 65 countries. Keynote addresses were given from country leaders, including: Inonge Wina, Vice President, Zambia; Édouard Ngirente, Prime Minister, Rwanda; Zinash Tayachew, First Lady, Ethiopia; and, Grisada Boonrach, Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Thailand. The event also saw the launch of key FAO publications: Dynamic Development, Shifting Demographics, Changing Diets and Future Smart Foods, and servd as a platform for the launch of the Launch of Global Nutrition Report 2018.

“Having a healthy and productive population requires putting appropriate policies that fight
hunger and malnutrition at center stage.” Édouard Ngirente, Prime Minister, Rwanda