Non-Communicable Diseases in Children: Systems-Based Approaches to Incorporating Nutrition into Medical Care

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) affect over 2.1 billion children globally, accounting for 15.9% of deaths in children under 20 and contributing 174 million years lived with disability. Integrating nutrition care into NCD management within health systems can save lives, reduce costs, and improve quality of life. Nutrition interventions have been found to improve survival rates in children with cancer by 30%. Incorporating early nutrition interventions in hospitals is associated with a 36% reduction in per-patient costs. Despite these clear benefits, nutrition care is often not readily accessible as part of NCD management in children. Access to trained nutrition professionals is limited, and nutrition training for healthcare workers is often inadequate. There are cost-effective and scalable models for delivering high-quality nutrition care, but scaling these models will require commitment to capacity building, training, technological innovation, and monitoring frameworks. Coordinated, multisectoral responses are needed urgently to incorporate nutrition sustainably into healthcare systems to confront the growing burden of childhood NCDs.