Ten years ago, the Access to Nutrition Initiative (ATNI) was created, calling on the world’s largest food & beverage manufacturers to address global nutrition challenges.

This October 16^th on World Food Day in The Hague, ATNI — together with two of its key donors, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and the UK’s Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) — is pleased to announce a multistakeholder tenth anniversary event: Transforming Markets for Nutrition.

The event will bring together public and private sector leaders to look at the impact ATNI and partners have had to improve private sector performance in nutrition, and to discuss what it will take to galvanize new efforts to transform markets for nutrition.   The event will also announce details of a new 2030 Initiative on Healthy and Sustainable Diets that aims to accelerate actions and improve access to nutritious foods for all, especially at-risk populations.

ATNI’s first decade saw several successes and improved industry performance on nutrition.  ATNI regularly deployed the most comprehensive nutrition index to assess the world’s largest food companies and approximately 40,000 food products. We formed a coalition of 80 institutional investors who manage $20 trillion in assets and support efforts to shift company behavior. ATNI helped companies, investors, and policymakers understand progress and gaps. These efforts contributed to placing nutrition prominently on the agenda of the largest global food companies over the last ten years and holding them to account for the healthiness of their products and responsible marketing.

However, obesity and undernutrition remain widespread in all regions of the world. Approximately 70% of foods produced by manufacturers still do not meet healthy standards. Further, not one of the large manufacturers of baby food is fully compliant with the International Code on the Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes.Compounding the situation, a proliferation of food retail outlets in low- and middle-income countries is resulting in unhealthy processed foods becoming increasingly accessible and available.

With new initiatives, partners, and a five-year strategy (2023-2027) in hand, ATNI and its allies are poised to create new incentives for healthy foods, drive the private sector to deliver new commitments and significantly improve the availability of healthy foods on the market.

If you would like to learn more about this ATNI-BMGF-FCDO event, or about ATNI’s strategy to improve markets for nutrition, contact info@accesstonutrition.org.