In a new The BMJ editorial, authors Suneetha Kadiyala, Linda Richter, Bharati Kulkarni, Anita Chitaya and Helen Harris-Fry, describe how policies that prioritise nutrition, regulate industry and empower women could tackle global childhood malnutrition. Malnutrition accounts for 45% of child mortality worldwide and poses a severe threat to both children's development and global economies. 

The authors analyse the latest UNICEF's report and argue that the new reframing dietary deficiencies under "child food poverty" may undermine current traction for SDG2 commitments. The proposed metric introduces an unvalidated threshold of two of the eight food groups daily and extrapolates to children under 5 years old, replacing the validated cut-off of four groups for children aged 6-23 months.

To improve global childhood malnutrition the authors provide key recommendations, such as:

• Investing in agriculture for nutrition, as it needs explicit nutrition-focused objectives;
• Empowering women, who make up the majority of the agriculture workforce and need greater decision-making power;
• Regulate the food industry, as "big food" companies dominate global supply chains and aggressively market unhealthy products;
• Strengthening health systems, particularly in low-income and conflict-affected regions with funding and political commitment;

For more insights and detailed policy recommendations, you can read the full editorial clicking the link below.

Read the full editorial here