‘We must prevent malnutrition’ - World Vision urges focus on nutritious meals for children

Dan Irvine, the Global Director of Health and Nutrition at World Vision International, has urged countries to place greater emphasis on preventing malnutrition rather than waiting until children become malnourished before providing treatment.

According to him, while the treatment of malnutrition remains important, greater attention must be given to measures that prevent children from becoming acutely or severely malnourished in the first place.

Speaking to the media on the sidelines of the 7th Micronutrient Forum Global Conference held at the Kempinski Hotel on September 28, 2026, Irvine said communities must adopt preventive approaches to address malnutrition among children.

He explained that waiting until a child develops severe malnutrition before intervening means the child has already being failed by the community.

“We must as a community focus on the prevention of malnutrition for children. It is not enough to prioritise treatment of malnutrition because if children have become acutely or severely malnourished, we have already failed them. We must prevent malnutrition,” he noted.

Irvine further stressed that preventing malnutrition requires ensuring that children have access to nutritious meals from an early age and throughout their development.

He said countries and communities can make huge progress by making better use of nutritious foods that are locally available, noting that many parts of the world have sufficient food resources to support healthy diets for children and families.

“The way that we prevent malnutrition is by guaranteeing nutritious meals for children from the earliest age and across the life cycle really, and this is possible in most places of the world. There is enough food security and locally available nutritious foods with which to construct nutritious diets for children and families if people understand how,” he added.

His comments come at a time when stakeholders in the nutrition sector are calling for stronger interventions to address malnutrition, particularly among children and vulnerable families.

The 7th Micronutrient Forum Global Conference, held under the theme “Nutrition at the Frontiers of a Changing Environment”, brought together stakeholders to discuss nutrition challenges and approaches to improving access to healthy diets.

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