Almost half of all deaths for children under 5 are attributable to malnutrition — this is why improving nutrition is imperative to achieving USAID’s global maternal and child survival goals. Climate change, conflict, and the lasting impacts of COVID-19 have all exacerbated rates of global malnutrition and contributed to the global food security and hunger crisis. Learn how health workers are leading the charge for change.

Explore Zhannat's journey learning about nutrition for her family. Since 2019, USAID has partnered with the Kyrgyz Republic at the national and local levels – including in village committees and health centers just like the one in Zhannat's village of Bel-Terek – to improve nutrition for women and children. USAID's investments seek to protect nutrition throughout the lifecycle to ensure that all women and children in the Kyrgyz Republic are well-nourished and able to live healthy and productive lives.

While the global food crisis is grabbing headlines, young children are paying the starkest toll. Malnutrition drives nearly half of deaths in children under the age of 5 around the world.

Even before the pandemic, undernutrition was causing 45 percent of deaths of children under age 5. For those children who survive malnutrition, their cognitive and physical development has been compromised, undermining their futures. Read remarkable stories from 7 Nutrition Heroes that are #CultivatingHope to stop the legacy of this pandemic from becoming a generation of children who lose their lives and future potential to malnutrition.

Recognizing that achieving optimal breastfeeding practices requires broad-based support, USAID promotes breastfeeding as a collective responsibility — one that families, communities, health systems, governments, and development partners must champion together.

Micronutrient deficiencies are the most widespread form of malnutrition, affecting hundreds of thousands of children each year, impairing their future and even their survival. Thirty years ago, global leaders made bold commitments to eliminate vitamin and mineral deficiencies.

The work of the 2021 World Food Prize Laureate, Dr. Shakuntala Haraksingh Thilsted, sits at the “handshake” between food and health systems and shares her vision for locally led opportunities for nourishing food systems. Her cutting edge research and insights into nutrition-sensitive approaches to aquaculture and food systems have expanded our thinking on how we produce, distribute, and consume foods to improve health and nutrition. 

Good nutrition is the foundation for a good life. But in too many places around the world, children never enjoy this healthy start. Now, the COVID-19 pandemic is making it more difficult for families to nourish their children, placing an entire generation at risk. 

To strangers, Isabella goes by Isabella Hwinzela Bigendako or Nurse Isabella. But to family, friends, and colleagues, she answers to a different name: ‘Mama Breastfeeding.’ Learn more about how Isabella earned this nickname after she participated in a USAID-supported mentorship training for community-level healthcare providers to learn best practices for maternal and child health, including building the skills of other health workers to provide proper breastfeeding counseling and support to pregnant women and new families.