The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN): A Decade of Partnerships to Increase Access to and Affordability of Nutritious Foods for the Poor

Abstract

The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) was established in 2002 with a mandate to galvanize efforts by the public and private sectors to end malnutrition. GAIN launched its first large-scale fortification program in 2003, and in less than a decade has scaled its operations to reach more than 600 million people with nutritionally enhanced food. GAIN has evolved considerably as an organization, expanding beyond large-scale food fortification into new program areas, focusing on maternal, infant, and young child nutrition and improvements in agricultural practices to enhance nutrition. This paper describes GAIN's evolution from a large-scale food fortification program focus to a broader nutrition program portfolio directed toward improving access and affordability of nutritious foods for the poor. As GAIN enters its second decade, it continues to respond to the challenges of a changing nutrition landscape by introducing new programs and novel partnerships and by refining its innovative program delivery models.