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What are our global goals?

Global commitment to nutrition continues, especially around women and children. Global political commitment and investment in nutrition-based interventions and health services will continue to be a primary driver of improved anemia (and other health) outcomes.

Global Goals to Reduce Anemia Among WRA

Sustainable Development Goal 2 – Zero Hunger: Adopted in 2015, the SDG goals include anemia reduction among WRA by 50 percent by 2030, from approximately 30% in 2012 to 15% in 2030. Anemia among WRA is an indicator of Target 2.2: “By 2030, end all forms of malnutrition, including achieving, by 2025, the internationally agreed targets on stunting and wasting in children under 5 years of age, and address the nutritional needs of adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating women and older persons.”1

Global Efforts to Reduce Anemia Among WRA

Priorities, goals, and actions: Provide guidance at a global level.

  • WHO World Health Assembly set global health goals for 2025.
  • UN SDG set global health goals for 2030.

Advocacy and action groups: Generate awareness, engagement, and funding for anemia among WRA, and implement programs to reduce anemia burden.

  • Lancet Series: The Maternal and Child Nutrition research paper series focuses on generating evidence through research, reviewing priorities and progress, and advocating calls to action.2
  • Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN): SUN unites civil society, the United Nations, donors, researchers, and the private sector in a cohesive effort to eliminate malnutrition. SUN aims to end malnutrition in all forms by 2030.3
  • Nutrition For Growth: In 2013, 90 stakeholders representing governments, development partners, private sector actors, civil society groups, and scientists met at a summit in London to sign the Nutrition for Growth Compact. Nutrition for Growth generated a total of US$4.15 billion pledged for nutrition-specific projects and US$19 billion for nutrition-sensitive projects.4
  • Anaemia Action Alliance: Co-led by WHO and UNICEF, the Alliance fosters accelerated and coordinated efforts to reduce anemia, including through implementation of the WHO Comprehensive framework for action to accelerate anemia reduction.5
  • USAID Advancing Nutrition: This multisectoral nutrition project works across and through varied sectors to provide technical support to and implementation of nutrition interventions for USAID and its partners to address the root causes of malnutrition.6
  • Accelerated Reduction Effort on Anemia: A network of 800+ community experts and practitioners, they are united in a commitment to reducing anemia.7
  • Biofortification programs: HarvestPlus, the Consortium of International Agricultural Research Centers (CGIAR), and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) are examples of organizations that play a role at the intersection of nutrition and agriculture.

Evidence generation efforts: Collect data to fill evidence gaps and drive research-based decision-making and policy-setting.

  • Biomarkers Reflecting Inflammation and Nutritional Determinants in Anemia (BRINDA): A multiagency international collaboration formed in 2012 to improve micronutrient assessment and anemia characterization globally. The overall goal of BRINDA is to refine approaches to estimating the prevalence of nutritional status and thus improve the targeting, design, and effectiveness of nutrition research and programs.8
  • Global Fortification Data Exchange (GFDx): An analysis and visualization tool, GFDx aggregates data on food fortification in five commonly fortified foods: maize flour, oil, rice, salt, and wheat flour.9
  • INTERGROWTH-21st: This global, multidisciplinary network involves more than 300 researchers and clinicians from 27 institutions in 18 countries worldwide. Part of the research includes measuring Hb levels as part of a diagnostic standardization effort for anemia.10

Our Research

The Exemplars in Global Health program studies global and regional exemplars of anemia reduction among WRA, whose specific programs and policies are worth studying as templates for similar gains in other LMICs.

  1. 1
    United Nations. Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. United Nations; 2015. Accessed September 25, 2021. https://sdgs.un.org/2030agenda
  2. 2
    The Lancet. Maternal and Child Nutrition. Series from the Lancet journals. Accessed September 25, 2021. https://www.thelancet.com/series/maternal-and-child-nutrition
  3. 3
    Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN). Scaling Up Nutrition. Accessed September 25, 2021. https://scalingupnutrition.org/
  4. 4
    Nutrition for Growth. Nutrition for Growth. Accessed September 25, 2021. https://nutritionforgrowth.org/nutrition-growth/
  5. 5
    World Health Organization. Anaemia Action Alliance. Accessed January 8th, 2024 https://www.who.int/teams/nutrition-and-food-safety/anaemia-action-alliance
  6. 6
    USAID. USAID Advancing Nutrition: What We Do. USAID. Accessed September 25, 2021. https://www.advancingnutrition.org/what-we-do
  7. 7
    USAID, SPRING. Accelerated Reduction Effort on Anaemia. SPRING. https://www.spring-nutrition.org/about-us/activities/accelerated-reduction-effort-anaemia-area-community-practice
  8. 8
    Biomarkers Reflecting Inflammation and Nutritional Determinants of Anemia (BRINDA). BRINDA. Accessed September 25, 2021. https://brinda-nutrition.org/
  9. 9
    Global Fortification Data Exchange (GFDx). Global Fortification Data Exchange. Accessed September 25, 2021. https://fortificationdata.org/
  10. 10
    The Global Health Network. Intergrowth-21st: The International Fetal and Newborn Growth Consortium for the 21st Century. The Global Health Network. Accessed September 25, 2021. https://intergrowth21.tghn.org/

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