Impact of nutrition and health interventions on undernutrition: an overview of systematic reviews

Nearly two decades after adopting SDG 2 to end malnutrition by 2030, significant challenges persist, including high anemia rates and stalled progress in reducing stunting and low birth weight. This paper provides an overview of the latest systematic reviews and meta-analyses on nutrition and health interventions assessing their effects on undernutrition and breastfeeding indicators. A systematic review was conducted following PRISMA guidelines, searching PubMed for relevant systematic reviews and meta-analyses published between 2018-2023. The search yielded 881 reports, with 46 systematic reviews and meta-analyses included after screening. These reviews spanned multiple regions and assessed various nutrition interventions. The findings underscore robust evidence for effective nutrition interventions but highlight that a large proportion of this evidence emerges from trials, posing significant challenges for translating this evidence into actual scale up, implementation, and sustainability.