Nutrition Modeling Consortium
Photo: ©2012CIAT/NeilPalmer
Generating Evidence for Impactful Nutrition Interventions
Nutrition modeling is increasingly recognized as an important tool that provides decision-makers with evidence-based information to design targeted interventions and allocate resources efficiently. Multiple nutrition modeling tools exist, but their adoption has been limited due in part to conflicting results which cause confusion and create a barrier for real-world application. To address these challenges and advance nutrition modeling efforts, we have established a Nutrition Modeling Consortium.
Purpose of the Nutrition Modeling Consortium
The Nutrition Modeling Consortium will bring together nutrition modelers, program managers, and policymakers from diverse country settings to focus on three objectives:
- Identify and coordinate opportunities to apply nutrition models in national decision-making processes.
- Strengthen capacity in low- and middle-income countries to develop and apply nutrition models.
- Advance current practices, emerging efforts, and future innovations in nutrition modeling.
Key activities
In 2026, the Consortium will focus its efforts on three main activities:
- Prioritizing a set of actions to improve the uptake and use of tools to help inform decisions at the country level.
- Generating knowledge products to serve as a proof of concept for the Consortium’s capabilities and potential.
- Creating a long-term plan for the Consortium, including direct engagement with regional and national partners.
These initial outputs will provide timely benefits to policymakers while laying the foundation for longer-term collaboration and greater impact beyond 2026.
Co-Chairs of the Nutrition Modeling Consortium
Mishel Unar Munguía, D.Sc., M.Sc.
Mishel Unar Munguía is a researcher at the National Institute of Public Health in Mexico, with more than 20 years of experience in nutrition economics, food systems, and public health. She holds a doctorate in population nutrition sciences and a master’s degree in health economics. Her work applies simulation modeling approaches to a wide range of nutrition priorities, including food taxes and subsidies, economic evaluations of suboptimal breastfeeding, resource optimization to prevent malnutrition, and the environmental impact and cost of diets.
Mishel sees the Nutrition Modeling Consortium as an important opportunity to build consensus among nutrition modeling experts and strengthen the use of modeling results to inform policy decisions. She is especially interested in the Consortium’s potential to advance the nutrition policy agendas in low- and middle-income countries, where evidence-based tools can help policymakers respond to complex and evolving nutrition challenges.
For Mishel, some of the most exciting opportunities for the Consortium include expanding collaboration across disciplines, broadening the scope of nutrition modeling to address issues such as overnutrition and the environmental impacts of food systems, and exploring how artificial intelligence can support modeling and improve the visualization of results.
Co-chairing the Consortium is meaningful to Mishel because it allows her to learn from fellow experts in nutrition modeling and policy advocacy while contributing her experiences with modeling in Latin America. Through this role, she hopes to help ensure that the Consortium’s agenda reflects the diversity of nutrition challenges faced across regions and supports practical, policy-relevant solutions.
Larry Umunna, M.Sc.
Larry Umunna is the Founding Director of Agricaid Limited, an advisory firm focused on agribusiness and nutrition. He previously served as West Africa regional director for TechnoServe and as the first regional representative for Africa and country director for Nigeria at the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition. Earlier in his career, Larry worked for many years with Roche Vitamins Limited, now DSM, in Nigeria and South Africa, where he later led sales, marketing, and new market and business development across sub-Saharan Africa. He holds a postgraduate degree in nutritional biochemistry from the University of Ibadan. With more than three decades of experience, Larry has worked extensively to promote food fortification and infant and young child nutrition among the food industry, governments, and other key stakeholders. He brings deep regional and technical expertise to efforts that connect nutrition, agribusiness, and public health policy.
Larry sees the Nutrition Modeling Consortium as a unique opportunity for experts to come together around issues at the intersection of data, public health, and decision-making. In particular, he emphasizes the value of mathematical and statistical tools that can simulate how changes in policies, programs, or behaviors may affect nutrition outcomes.
For Larry, the Consortium provides an important opportunity to support low- and middle-income countries in developing, interpreting, and applying nutrition models themselves. He also sees the Consortium as a way to avoid duplication, strengthen collaboration, and better connect technical modeling work with real-world policy impact. As Co-Chair, Larry is honored by the opportunity and sees the role as a challenge to help ensure that nutrition modeling remains demand-driven and responsive to policy needs, rather than solely academically interesting.
How to Get Involved
If you or your organization are interested in learning more about the Nutrition Modeling Consortium, please reach out to DInA at [email protected]
