How should nutrition be positioned in the post-2015 agenda?

How should the nutrition community be positioning nutrition within the post-2015 MDG debate? This paper represents a snapshot review of ongoing nutrition challenges, the contours of the post-MDG debate, and the views of 26 experts in nutrition and the MDGs. The paper draws out post 2015 options, develops criteria for ranking the options, applies the criteria and makes a recommendation. While a nutrition goal (the “vertical” option) that covers all countries and addresses both under and overweight and obesity may well be most effective for galvanizing commitment for nutrition and for guiding action, it does not seem politically feasible. A strong position for nutrition is to be located with hunger in a “vertical” goal with an additional “horizontal” goal which places nutrition-specific indicators alongside nutrition-relevant indicators in new goal buckets, with placement driven by the UNICEF conceptual framework for undernutrition. The “minimalist” option of simply replacing the flawed underweight indicator with the superior stunting indicator in the poverty goal will not galvanize any constituency and should be rejected.