Nutrition and health in women, children, and adolescent girls.

E very year the lives of around 50 million children are put at risk because they are dangerously thin from acute undernutrition, while the long term health of more than 40 million children is threatened because they are overweight. Two billion people suffer from vitamin and mineral deficiencies, but overweight and obesity are key contributors to the non-communicable diseases that account for almost two thirds (63%) of adult deaths globally. These different forms of malnutrition—undernutrition, overweight and obesity, and micronutrient deficiencies— now affect people across the same communities and harm people of all ages. (Unless otherwise cited, the figures given are WHO estimates.) Improving nutrition therefore presents a key opportunity to improve health. As the UN secretary general launches his second Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health in September 2015 a strengthened focus on nutrition is warranted, with special attention to the first 1000 days of life (from pregnancy to the child’s second birthday), pregnant and lactating women, women of reproductive age, and adolescent girls. Methods This paper highlights nutrition related priority actions to improve the health of women, children, and adolescent girls. It is based on existing policy guidance issued by the World Health Assembly in the form of resolutions or targets; guidelines from the World Health Organization; or the outcome documents of the Second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2). The vast majority of the recommended actions proposed in this paper were agreed by the 162 member states attending the ICN2 in Rome in November 2014.1 These recommendations were developed by the secretariats of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and WHO on the basis of current evidence and were subject to extensive consultation. An information note on the ICN2 provides more background information on the recommended actions.2 Some additional recommendations, specific to women’s, children’s, or adolescents’ nutrition, are based on WHO guidance. Where such a recommendation does not exist, emerging evidence reviewed by the authors is cited.