The World Health Organization (WHO) Executive Board faced a grim reckoning on Thursday in a report detailing how global progress on maternal, infant and child nutrition has largely stalled or even regressed.  Notably, six critical nutrition targets remain “off track,” with rising rates of anaemia and childhood obesity sliding back, threatening to reverse years of development gains, according to a report reviewed by the EB.

“Malnutrition is really a silent epidemic today in Africa,” stated the representative of Cameroon. “Despite all that has been done, we still see stunting, anaemia, and lack of certain nutrients.”

International commitments aim to halve the prevalence of anaemia in women of reproductive age by 2030, as part of Sustainable Development Goal 2 (Zero Hunger). However, rates have climbed from 27.6% in 2012 to 30.7% in 2023. Driven by factors ranging from food insecurity and infectious diseases to poverty, this leaves millions of women without enough healthy red blood cells.

Global targets for tackling the double burden of malnutrition, which includes both undernutrition and overweight, are similarly off-track.

The global prevalence of childhood overweight has crept up to 5.5%, as food systems struggle to provide healthy options, the WHO report notes. Stunting, a mesure of undernutrition, still affects 150.2 million children under five, with an estimated 136.3 million more children likely to face stunting by 2030. And low birth weight rates have barely improved, inching down just 0.3% to 14.7% of newborns between 2012 and 2023. Meanwhile, childhood wasting remains stubbornly high at 6.6% of children under the age of five years of age – well above the 5% threshold required to ensure child survival.

Maternal and child health is crisis of inequality 

In the first comprehensive debate since member states pledged to accelerate action on maternal and child nutrition in a 2025 World Health Assembly resolution, delegates called out the stagnation as a systemic crisis of inequality deepened by conflict and climate change.

Speaking on behalf of the 47 Member States of the African Region, the delegation from Lesotho warned that the continent bears the highest global burden of stunting and anaemia, a situation that persists, despite ongoing interventions, delegates from Cameroon added.

Somalia, representing the Eastern Mediterranean Region, highlighted the devastating impact of climate and conflict-driven instability, noting a “complex nutrition burden driven by conflict, displacement, and climate shocks.”

The delegation reported that 24.3 million children under five in the Africa region are currently stunted, urging prioritized support for fragile and conflict-affected settings.

Outrage over ‘savage marketing’ of formula

A major point of contention during the session was the aggressive commercialization of infant nutrition. In a sharp rebuke of the formula industry, the Central African Republic condemned “savage marketing for breast milk substitutes.”

The delegate noted that these practices are “undermining breastfeeding and taking advantage of communities that are already poor and fragile”, putting industry interests over public health.

This concern bridged the divide between the Global South and wealthy donor nations. Norway joined African nations in demanding stricter regulation, specifically targeting the digital sphere. The Norwegian delegation raised alarm over “recent large-scale recalls of breast milk substitutes,” arguing that food safety and robust monitoring must be paramount.

Advocacy groups demand industry accountability

The tension between public health priorities and commercial interests was palpable in statements from non-state actors.

The International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) hit back at the formula industry. The advocacy group warned that recent contamination cases exposed “systemic failures” in formula production. IBFAN argued that cross-border social media marketing exacerbates food safety risks by allowing unregistered products to enter countries, demanding that governments take the lead in verifying safety rather than trusting manufacturers.

Meanwhile, the Global Self-Care Federation, representing the consumer health industry, argued that policymakers also “must prioritize the provision of micronutrient supplements”  to women. A statement by the group noted that iron, folate, iodine and calcium supplementation can help reduce anemia prevalence, and therefore maternal mortality and pre-term birth, as well as some “life-long NCD risks.” Such supplementation is thus an “cost-effective public health investment”, the group stated.

Rising stakes in a climate of receding aid

The United Kingdom called the report “sobering,” noting that “no country is on track to meet the targets” and flagging worsening trends in minimum dietary diversity even within its borders. Canada emphasized the need to “step up nutritional interventions” that are based on evidence and take gender into account.

Speaking for the 27-member European Union, Bulgaria admitted the world is “far off track.” However, the bloc reiterated its financial commitment, noting that Europe has pledged €6.5 billion to fight malnutrition up to 2029. The EU called for increased coordination on data collection to better target the most vulnerable populations.

While officials figures are yet to be fiinalized, international development assistance for nutrition declined by an estimated 17% in 2025. In light of this, the Board faces the difficult task of reversing these trends in a constrained financial environment.

Such reductions in donor aid threaten to “reverse hard work and increase preventable childbirths,” warned Nigeria, saying that nutrition needs to be seen as an “essential” organizing principle of primary health care.

Image Credits: Felix Sassmannshausen.