ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a policy-focused analysis of the global politics of malnutrition, considering political priorities, actors and institutions, and the frames and narratives that surround the challenge that nutrition presents. The imperative for action on all forms of malnutrition and food security is explicit in Sustainable Development Goal 2, ‘End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture’. The inclusion of a specific Sustainable Development Goals on hunger and malnutrition, and the commencement of the United Nations Decade of Action on Nutrition, are evidence of the significant rise in political attention for undernutrition. The 2008 global food crisis highlighted the vulnerability of the preceding ‘wins’ in malnutrition, as rising prices of staple foods rendered many people food insecure. The multiple goals for food system policy across economic, social, health, environmental, and other sectors give rise to policy incoherence and conflicts of interest.
