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  • Publication | 2025
Spotlight on the Global Thematic Fund for Nutrition 2024
Global Food and Nutrition Security

Good nutrition is the starting point of every child’s journey, yet too often overlooked. It boosts survival, strengthens immunity, unlocks physical and cognitive development and fuels learning. Without good nutrition, children cannot reach their full potential. Yet around the world, millions of children are held back by malnutrition, from stunting and wasting to hidden hunger, overweight and obesity. Despite the scale of the challenge, investment in nutrition remains far too low, with consequences that jeopardize children’s survival, growth and development today and continue far beyond childhood, undermining health, education and national development. UNICEF is changing this, not only through programmes that improve access to nutritious diets, essential nutrition services and positive care practices, but also by strengthening the systems that make progress last. UNICEF’s Global Thematic Fund for Nutrition is the engine behind this strategic work. It is more than a funding mechanism – it is a catalyst for systems-level change, reaching the children and caregivers most often left behind. Rooted in equity, resilience and partnership, the Global Thematic Fund for Nutrition reflects a simple truth: good nutrition is not a luxury – it is a smart investment in children’s rights and economic development.