Strengthening nutrition programs in a changing world: A preview of Track B at the Micronutrient Forum 7th Global Conference
Micronutrient malnutrition—insufficient intake of key vitamins and minerals—affects one in two children and two in three women worldwide. While significant advances have been made in understanding its drivers and identifying effective interventions, important scientific and programmatic challenges remain.
- nutrition
By Deanna Olney and Mduduzi MbuyaSeptember 25, 2026
Insights and reflections by Deanna Olney (Director of IFPRI’s Nutrition, Diets, and Health Unit) and Mduduzi Mbuya (Director of Knowledge Leadership, Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition, GAIN), Co-Chairs of Track B of the Micronutrient Forum’s 7th Global Conference. Opinions are the authors’.
Micronutrient malnutrition—insufficient intake of key vitamins and minerals—affects one in two children and two in three women worldwide. While significant advances have been made in understanding its drivers and identifying effective interventions, important scientific and programmatic challenges remain. At the same time, mounting external pressures threaten to worsen the problem: climate shocks are disrupting food systems, conflicts are displacing communities, and development financing is shrinking and shifting.
These conditions frame the Micronutrient Forum’s 7th Global Conference, convening in Accra, Ghana, September 28-October 1 under the theme “Nutrition at the Frontiers of a Changing Environment.” Within this broader focus, a critical question emerges: how can we work together to reduce micronutrient deficiencies as these challenges become more complex?