About the topic
In 2025, Brazil celebrated its second exit from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Hunger Map, as a result of the resumption of structural public policies focused on food security and social protection. This progress, while significant, coexists with a scenario still marked by profound inequalities: more than 7 million people remain in a situation of severe food insecurity, while around 28 million face moderate or mild insecurity. The persistence of these figures shows that regular and adequate access to food remains fragile and unequal, affecting more intensely families with children, women heads of household, Black and Indigenous populations, and rural communities.
At the same time, the country is undergoing an accelerated dietary transition, characterized by the replacement of fresh and minimally processed foods with ultra-processed products high in sugars, fats, and sodium. This shift in dietary patterns has contributed to a marked increase in childhood overweight and obesity, now present in nearly one third of children aged 5 to 9, while undernutrition has still not been fully overcome. According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Brazil reflects a worrying global trend: obesity has already surpassed undernutrition as the dominant form of malnutrition among children and adolescents.
This scenario reveals the coexistence of multiple faces of child malnutrition in the country. While some children still face restrictions in access to food in sufficient quantity and quality, others live with inadequate diets that compromise their present and future health. Nutrition in childhood is a central determinant of physical, cognitive, and emotional development and has a direct influence on the risk of chronic diseases, school performance, and opportunities throughout life.
In light of this reality, at Infinis we work to drive concrete changes in tackling child malnutrition, strengthening initiatives that promote access to adequate, healthy, and sustainable food from the earliest years of life.
