In October 2022, President Biden signed the Global Malnutrition Prevention and Treatment Act (GMPTA) into law, which directs USAID to prevent and treat malnutrition globally. The GMPTA further codifies USAID’s leadership on nutrition, with a focus on evidence-based interventions across health systems and food systems, in both development and humanitarian settings.  

Realizing the potential of good nutrition to save lives and ensure a brighter future for generations to come is central to U.S. Government priorities. For over 60 years, USAID has been a leader in the fight to end global malnutrition. Nutrition affects every aspect of human development: from the ability to fight disease, to children’s performance in school, to a nation’s health and economic advancement. There is overwhelming evidence of the power of good nutrition but, due to challenges in accessing safe, nutritious foods and health and sanitation services, many people in low- and middle-income countries remain undernourished. 

Robust leadership from the U.S. Government is more important now than ever to buffer shocks and stressors stemming from COVID-19, climate change, and conflict, while mitigating further deterioration and regaining progress in reaching World Health Assembly and Sustainable Development Goal nutrition targets. USAID is committed to addressing these global challenges and preventing further backsliding on nutrition. 

Building on a long history as the largest provider of international agriculture, economic development, and humanitarian assistance, President Biden announced a $5 billion commitment over five years to Feed the Future, the U.S. government’s global hunger and food security initiative, and an expansion of Feed the Future target countries at the UN Food Systems Summit in 2021. Among food systems and nutrition commitments, USAID committed to increasing financing for nutrition through the private sector, scaling and sustaining large scale food fortification, and reductions in food loss and waste.  At the Tokyo Nutrition for Growth Summit in 2021, USAID also announced the intention to invest $11 billion in addressing global malnutrition over three years, including important policy commitments focused on breastfeeding promotion, building robust systems for nutrition data, and wasting prevention and treatment. The U.S. government also officially launched the second Global Nutrition Coordination Plan 2021-2026.  

The GMPTA Implementation Plan serves as a roadmap for USAID’s investments in the prevention and treatment of malnutrition for the period from October 2022 to October 2029. As part of developing this plan, USAID, led by the Agency’s Nutrition Leadership Council, leveraged a consultative process with external and interagency stakeholders. USAID staff briefed other U.S. Government agencies on the GMPTA, its components, and the Plan development process through the U.S. Government Global Nutrition Coordination Plan platform. External consultations were held with civil society and other nutrition stakeholders. USAID received written and oral feedback from external stakeholders, which were incorporated in the Plan’s development. 

The Plan presents USAID’s priority technical areas in nutrition, the approach USAID will take to coordinate and collaborate internally and with priority countries, other federal agencies, and partners to achieve nutrition goals, and the mechanisms by which USAID will hold itself accountable to achievement of goals by tracking progress against targets through annual reporting. It also provides a shared basis for continued, technically sound, collaborative action.