2026 Global Nutrition Report

The ‘2026 Global Nutrition Report: Integrating food and health systems for climate-resilient nutrition' sets out why protecting nutrition now depends on integrating food and health systems as climate shocks strain both at once. It introduces a new framework to guide coordinated action—linking governance, financing, operational capacity and data—to deliver healthy diets in a resilient and equitable way.

Image by © Jake Salvador/FAO

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Foreword

Scientific understanding of the links between food systems, health systems, climate change and nutrition has never been stronger. Yet progress towards the global nutrition targets remains uneven, and access to healthy diets continues to be shaped by widening inequities, climate-related shocks and under-resourced delivery systems.

Executive summary

The 2026 Global Nutrition Report addresses one of the defining challenges of our time: how to achieve healthy diets for all as climate change undermines food and health systems simultaneously.

Chapter One

Introduction

Chapter 1 sets the context for why climate change is forcing food and health systems to confront nutrition risks together rather than in silos. It clarifies the report’s objectives and structure, framing the need for integrated action and stronger accountability.

Chapter Two

Food systems resilience to shocks and stressors to support nutrition and health

Chapter 2 shows how shocks, such as pandemics, conflict and climate extremes, disrupt diets and essential nutrition services at the same time, making resilience a shared food–health systems challenge. It highlights practical, integrated response strategies—linking social protection, service delivery adaptations and food system measures—that protect nutrition under polycrisis conditions.

Chapter Three

Food systems strategies to adapt to and mitigate the effects of climate change for better nutrition

Chapter 3 assesses food-system pathways to adapt to and mitigate climate change while improving diets, focusing on climate-smart agriculture, sustainable healthy diets and reducing food loss and waste. It makes trade-offs explicit and shows why food policies must be paired with health-system actions (such as counselling, fortification, and supplementation) to safeguard nutritional adequacy.

Chapter Four

Strategies to integrate gender into food and health systems actions

Chapter 4 applies a gender lens to show how climate change intensifies nutrition and health risks through unequitable access to resources, services and decision-making power. It identifies entry points for integrating gender equity across food and health systems, especially through social protection, primary care delivery and climate-resilient livelihoods.

Chapter Five

Governance as a driver of food and health system transformation

Chapter 5 explains how governance determines whether food and health systems can deliver integrated nutrition results under climate stress, distinguishing procedural from substantive accountability. It highlights the financing, coordination and capacity gaps that keep commitments from translating into resilient, equitable action.

Chapter Six

Alignment of Nutrition for Growth commitments with food systems frameworks, substantive accountability and gender equity

Chapter 6 analyses N4G Tokyo 2021 and Paris 2025 commitments to examine whether stated priorities are truly aligned with food-systems frameworks and integrated with health-system action. It shows where commitments fall short on resilience, financing, indicators and gender—underscoring the need for more deliverable, cross-system commitments.

Chapter Seven

Conceptualising the interconnectedness of food systems and health systems

Chapter 7 introduces the report’s new framework for achieving healthy diets by making the food–health system interconnections and climate pressures explicit. It sets out four enabling functions—governance, financing, operational capacity and data—to guide integrated design, implementation and accountability.

Chapter Eight

Recommendations and policy implications

Chapter 8 translates evidence into practical recommendations for governments, donors, accountability bodies, civil society and the private sector to strengthen integrated food–health action under climate change. It organises priorities around the framework’s four enablers to support more resilient delivery, clearer trade-off management and stronger equity.

Chapter Nine

Implementing recommendations in the real world

Chapter 9 confronts the real-world constraints—shrinking aid, fiscal pressure and institutional fragmentation—that make integrated nutrition action harder to deliver just as climate risks intensify. It uses the framework to prioritise feasible entry points and sequencing that protect core services and diets while building long-term capacity.

Chapter Ten

Conclusion: Delivering healthy diets under complexity and interconnectedness

Chapter 10 synthesises the report’s central message: healthy diets under climate change require coordinated action across food systems, health systems and social protection, backed by financing and delivery capacity. It positions the new framework—and the integration of nutrition into primary health care and universal health coverage—as a practical anchor for sustained, accountable progress.

Endorsements

Endorsements of the 2026 Global Nutrition Report.

Glossary

Definitions of the terms we have used across the report.

Acronyms and abbreviations

A list of the acronyms and abbreviations we have used across the report.

Authorship and acknowledgements

Authorship of the report, thanks to those involved in creating it and a suggestion for how to cite it.

Data sets and metadata

The data, metadata and technical note used for the 2026 Global Nutrition Report.

appendix one

Synergies and trade-offs in supporting nutrition through climate-smart agriculture, sustainable healthy diets and reduction of food loss and waste

This annex synthesises the key synergies and trade-offs in three core strategies and highlights what design choices can maximise nutrition gains while managing climate and equity risks.

appendix two

Factors and effects across systems in the framework

This annex operationalises the report’s new framework by laying out the major factors and effects across climate, food systems and health systems.

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Executive Summary - 2026 Global Nutrition Report

Download a PDF of the executive summary of this year's report