The Contribution of Nutrition to Achieving the Millennium Development Goals FAO’s Nutrition and Consumer Protection Division Overview Nutritional status is a key indicator of poverty and hunger, poor health, and inadequate education and social conditions. Good nutrition

Nutritional status is a key indicator of poverty and hunger, poor health, and inadequate education and social conditions. Good nutrition is crucial to reach the health, education and economic goals contained in the MDGs since good health, cognitive development and productivity cannot be achieved without good nutrition. Poorly nourished children cannot grow and develop properly, resist infections or learn to their full potential. Malnourished adults are less capable of performing work and are severely disadvantaged in terms of their social and economic security. Nutrition has a singularly important role to play in helping people living with HIV/AIDS and in mitigating the impact of the disease among affected household members.