Health

The dietary equation is currently unbalanced. More than 800 million people are chronically undernourished, while two billion people suffer from micronutrient deficiencies, and an equal number are overweight or obese. Diverse diets are often unavailable, implying that improved products have to be thoughtfully delivered into value chains and markets, at the nexus of dietary education and reinforcing conditions such as public intervention in domains as diverse as regulation in different respects, including food safety, and sanitation and water quality. The use of chemical-based fertilizers and pesticides also risks exposure of the public or agricultural workers to health risks. Growing concern about emerging infectious diseases, of which many are zoonoses, highlights the need for informed interventions to control such diseases, which threaten production and human health. Anti-microbial resistance is a major emerging issue driven in part by the food system.

CGIAR and the Sustainable Development Goals

CGIAR research to improve nutrition and health contributes strongly to the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals and targets for the 2030 agenda, to address: