3 Questions to Joel Spicer, President and CEO, Nutrition International

Interview with Joel Spicer, President and CEO, Nutrition International

Focus 2030 : Malnutrition is the leading cause of infant mortality worldwide, directly or indirectly responsible for approximately one in two deaths among children under five. What is Nutrition International’s vision for addressing malnutrition on a global scale?

Joel Spicer, President and CEO, Nutrition International  : While malnutrition comes in many forms, including overweight, obesity, undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies, most of them are entirely preventable. We know that with the right nutrition at the right time, we can provide people with life-long benefits and prevent malnutrition.

That means ending malnutrition is a choice. It’s a political choice, an economic choice and a choice about the kind of world we want to build.

And yet people continue to suffer from malnutrition, particularly women, adolescent girls, children and people living in poverty. It weakens their health, and it limits their future opportunities. It’s a vicious cycle.

We want to end that cycle, and we believe that the world can do it — if we work together in a focused, connected and sustainable way. It’s not something that a single organization, government or group can do alone: we need to work collectively across borders, silos and sectors to make the best possible use of the available resources. And we need to do it through evidence-based, high-impact and cost-effective interventions that include both large-scale activities and tailored programs at the community level. It is the only way that we will achieve measurable results.

That has been our approach for more than 30 years. We work in more than 60 countries globally, generating data and evidence, supporting policy makers and institutions to make informed decisions, and working alongside governments as an expert ally to ensure their programs successfully deliver the right nutrition interventions at scale to those who need them. It’s a connected approach that helps us ensure that no opportunity is missed when it comes to breaking down barriers between different sectors and successfully integrating nutrition into non-nutrition platforms.

Ending malnutrition also requires demanding the greatest impact possible from every dollar we invest. We need to double down on what we know works and prioritize the best things first. That was the basis of our first investment case, which we launched in 2018, and our newly launched second investment case continues that emphasis on maximizing the impact of every dollar to achieve more effective and sustainable results.

Ultimately, malnutrition is a solvable problem, but we won’t get there by preserving the status quo. We need to make the choice to end it — and then collectively take action in a focused way.

Joel Spicer : 

Our focus at the 2025 N4G Summit in Paris is to encourage and motivate global leaders, country governments and nutrition partners to make strong, smart and ambitious political and financial commitments to nutrition that will move the needle on achieving the global nutrition targets by 2030.

To do this, we are going to use the same approach that we use in our everyday work: support our government partners by providing in-depth technical knowledge, research abilities and operational capacity that helps them deliver the right nutrition interventions at the right time. We take a similar approach when engaging with donors and other nutrition decision makers, providing them with data to make informed choices and investments that generate a stronger return on investment.

For instance, we have used our expertise in health economics to produce customized advocacy briefs and convene focused meetings and events that demonstrate the cost of not investing in nutrition. Our user-friendly Cost of Inaction Tool uses open-access data to provide estimates of the health, human capital and economic consequences of not taking action to address key indicators of undernutrition. By showing the enormous economic and human capital implications of malnutrition to donors and country governments alike, we’re reinforcing the urgent need for increased investment in nutrition at the N4G Summit in Paris.

At the regional level, we are using our close working relationships with regional stakeholders like the African Union, the African Development Bank and the Asian Development Bank to ensure that nutrition remains a priority on regional development agendas. This has involved collaborating on continental policy efforts and strategies and jointly hosting high-level events in the lead-up to the summit.

At the country level, we are supporting governments to craft commitments that prioritize proven, cost-efficient and high-impact nutrition interventions that make sense in their unique contexts and that tackle debilitating forms of malnutrition, like stunting, anaemia and low birthweight. In Ethiopia, for example, we co-hosted an event alongside the government of Canada and representatives from the Ethiopian government that demonstrated how investing in nutrition can fuel economic growth and strengthen human capital. And in Pakistan, we are providing technical support to the government’s national N4G committee and leading technical consultations across the provinces to shape robust national commitments.

Finally, we are working closely with the French government to help shape the N4G Summit, providing technical insights on nutrition and providing experience-based support to the organization of the Summit itself. Whether it’s supporting the day-to-day preparations for the Summit with data-driven insights and experience, or adding to the global coordination efforts behind the Summit, our aim is to rally donors and governments, mobilize commitments and help ensure that N4G Paris yields tangible results for global nutrition.

Joel Spicer :  The N4G Summit is more than just another global event: it’s a once-every-four-years opportunity to rally governments, donors and civil society around bold commitments to tackle global malnutrition.

The 2025 Summit is occurring at a time of global disruption when development resources are stretched thin, key players in international development are stepping back and multiple development organizations that rely on a handful of donors are seeking renewed funding within the same year.

Within this context, N4G offers the opportunity to signal that collective action and cooperation are possible, needed and necessary to build a better world — and that it must continue. It’s also an important moment to reaffirm nutrition’s role in shaping health, human potential, economic development, equity, and stability. N4G must also deliver bold and sustainable commitments that are aligned with national priorities and bring us closer to achieving the World Health Assembly global nutrition targets and the SDGs.

One of the most urgent priorities for N4G 2025 is to secure greater financial engagement from multilateral development banks. These institutions play a crucial role in bridging financing gaps for international development, and as they begin to integrate nutrition into their development portfolios, there’s a real opportunity to unlock new funding streams for governments that are struggling to meet their national nutrition goals.

Ultimately, the N4G Paris Summit is a crucial forum for all stakeholders, from governments to donors to civil society. It is also about more than pledges: it’s also about turning those commitments into action.

That is why we hope to see strong policy, impact and financial commitments made that are free from conflicts of interest — and that are followed by concerted action and progress. This will support better health, improved education, increased human capital, enormous economic savings and improved peace and security globally. That is why the N4G Paris Summit is unique opportunity: with the right investments and political participation, we can make nutrition a foundation of sustainable development and achieve the world we all envisioned for 2030.

NB : The opinions expressed in this interview do not necessarily reflect the positions of Focus 2030.