Our vision is clear: A world free from all forms of malnutrition by 2030, leaving no one behind.
SUN is built on government ownership and the understanding that factors underlying nutrition are interconnected. It is critical to bring actors together for impact at scale. With the knowledge that without adequate nutrition, few – if any – Sustainable Development Goals will be met. That is how important good nutrition is.
There are almost 2.7 billion women, men and children that call our 62 SUN countries home today, with some 320 million girls and boys under the age of five..
These children represent:
Looking back to when the SUN Movement started in 2010, child malnutrition has been reduced, but results have not been seen fast enough, globally:
Malnutrition in girls and boys under five (2010-2019)
In 2012, the World Health Assembly adopted the Global Targets 2025 to improve maternal, infant and young child nutrition. Since then, 44 SUN countries have included at least one of these nutrition targets in their national nutrition polices or strategies – for lasting impact.
Many SUN countries are moving in the right direction to improve girls’ and boys’ nutrition and meet both national and global targets – with concrete results to show for:
5 SUN countries are considered shining examples of stunting reduction over the past 20 years: Ethiopia, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Peru and Senegal.
Ethiopia
Ethiopia: In 1992, two out of every three Ethiopian children were stunted. At 67 per cent, the country’s stunting prevalence was among the highest in the world. Over the next 25 years, stunting declined steadily. By 2016, prevalence had been cut by almost half, to 38 per cent.
Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan: In 1997, a survey revealed that 36 per cent of children (over 200,000 girls and boys) were stunted. In 2006, the national survey of stunting revealed that the rate had dropped by half to 18 per cent in just nine years. By 2014, the rate had fallen to 13 per cent, and approximately 95,000 Kyrgyz children were stunted compared to a high of more than 200,000 two decades prior.
Nepal
Nepal: In 1995, Nepal recorded a stunting rate of 68 per cent, the highest in the world. This amounted to more than 2 million stunted children. By 2016, the rate had been cut almost in half, to 36 per cent.
Peru
Peru: In the mid-2000s, the Government started to target stunting explicitly. As a result, between 2008 and 2016, the stunting rate dropped by more than half, from 28 to 13 per cent.
Senegal
Senegal: Senegal has been an exemplar country in the West Africa region, reducing child stunting prevalence by 17.9 per cent from 1992 to 2017.
Whereas many countries are making strides towards meeting these targets, progress is uneven and perhaps more at risk than ever. Many SUN countries are facing the challenge of fighting a persistent burden of stunting and wasting, various types of micronutrient deficiencies, and rising rates of overweight women, men and children.
How SUN countries are tracking against world health assembly targets
| World Health Assembly: Global Targets 2025 to improve maternal, infant and young child nutrition | SUN country progress | |
|---|---|---|
 40% reduction in the number of children under-5 who are stunted |
10 SUN countries are on track
Bangladesh, Côte d’Ivoire, El Salvador, Eswatini, Ghana, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Lao PDR, Peru, Tajikistan
|
|
 50% reduction of anaemia in women of reproductive age |
No SUN countries are on track |
|
 30% reduction in low birth weight |
No SUN countries are on track |
|
 No increase in childhood overweight |
35 SUN countries are on trackAfghanistan, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, DRC, Eswatini, The Gambia, Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Indonesia, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mauritania, Myanmar, Nepal, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Rwanda,
Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tajikistan, Timor-Leste, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe |
|
 Increase the rate of exclusive breastfeeding in the first 6 months up to at least 50% |
23 SUN countries are on track
Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Congo, DRC, El Salvador, Eswatini, The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Indonesia, Kenya, Mali, Mauritania, Myanmar, Pakistan, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Togo, Viet Nam.
|
|
 Reduce and maintain childhood wasting to less than 5% |
17 SUN countries are on track Cameroon, El Salvador, Eswatini, Guatemala, Haiti, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Peru, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe
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Nutrition is a lifelong issue. Although key country achievements towards child malnutrition should be celebrated, good nutrition is essential at many – if not all – stages of life. This requires a people-centred and holistic approach to combating malnutrition in a given country, as no two countries are the same and all countries have a malnutrition problem, to leave no one behind.
Although the effects of poor nutrition rear their ugly head in the womb, they stretch from childhood to adolescence and into adulthood, with the potential of continuing for generations. Multiple forms of malnutrition can exist in the same child, in the same household or in the same community.
To this end, it becomes the more important to take a lifecycle approach to combating malnutrition.
Starting from the start, this means looking to: