[Click on the banner above to download the full Report]

In this excellent document, articulating nutrition to a wide range of topics such as climate change and political economy of food, the Global Nutrition Report of 2015 clearly states that tackling malnutrition effectively is a key process to meet virtually all other Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Improving nutrition may help breaking cyclical poverty and even narrow global economic inequalities. Good nutrition is, in sum, a strong foundation for sustainable human development. However, over the past decades, a good deal of progress has been made in reducing malnutrition, but it has been uneven and too slow. Even more important to the CMN is the explicit acknowledgement that the 2015 Report has made of the significance of coverage data of interventions addressing child undernutrition. Coverage indicators are recognised as being good measures of programmatic success or reach since they change rapidly in response to programmatic changes. Because of this, out of 12 nutrition interventions (ranging from pre-natal care to vitamin supplementation), the Report stresses the importance of improving coverage data availability from both MAM and SAM treatment programmes. In the Report’s words, “Geographic coverage data [of Therapeutic feeding for severely wasted children] are now available, but they relate primarily to the existence —not the use— of clinics equipped to produce such services”. Simultaneously, the CMN is awarded a direct mention when stating that “the Coverage Monitoring Network also works to improve data availability regarding children with MAM who receive [supplementary] feeding”. In other words, the Report’s endorsement of Coverage Assessments of nutrition programmes is relevant for two main reasons: it maintains the need to improve the availability of data and information on access to CMAM services well beyond data on their physical availability; and it encourages programmes to rely on Coverage information as an additional input for the improvement of programme quality. And for the CMN, this is a reminder that its core goals are more than ever relevant for scaling-up available information on the quality of nutrition interventions.   For the main website of the GNR, click here. For the list of online Appendixes (including CMN's, number 10), click here. For the Data Portal of the GNR, click here.