Anna Herforth

What I Do

I help the UN measure food security and nutrition. My work is transforming the story told about food, from calories to healthy diets.

Until the last few years, we did not have data to know (1) whether people can afford healthy diets, and (2) whether people are eating healthy diets. It was widely assumed that many people were not able to consume healthy diets, but lack of data rendered the problem largely invisible to policymakers.

To fill these data gaps:

• 1. I developed the Cost and Affordability of a Healthy Diet indicator, revealing that nearly 1 in 3 people cannot afford a healthy diet. These statistics are now reported annually by the United Nations since 2020.
• 2. I led the first global survey on what people eat. These data, representing 85% of the global population, led to the adoption of an indicator of healthy diets in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2025.

This new information helps focus attention and action on affordability and consumption of adequate nourishing food. To support this aim:

• 1. I am acting as a senior adviser to UN agencies to help countries monitor these indicators and use them in policymaking.
• 2. I am creating a World Food Map to highlight locally available, accepted, and underutilized foods in each country that could be scaled up to improve access and consumption of healthy diets.

Anna Herforth, Ph.D.

Researcher and advocate for food systems, nutrition, and sustainable diets.

Dr. Anna Herforth is a global leader in food systems and nutrition. For over two decades, she has worked at the intersection of agriculture and nutrition, helping the United Nations and national governments measure and monitor dietary health through innovative data solutions.

Her work is transforming the global narrative on food—shifting the focus from mere calories to the affordability and consumption of healthy diets. She developed the Cost and Affordability of a Healthy Diet indicator, a groundbreaking metric now reported annually by the UN to show that nearly 3 billion people cannot afford a healthy diet.

Beyond data, Anna is dedicated to practical solutions. She co-founded the Ag2Nut Community of Practice in 2010, which has grown to over 7,500 members in 130 countries, and is currently developing a World Food Map to highlight underutilized, nutrient-dense foods around the globe.

She holds a Ph.D. from Cornell University and has served as a senior advisor to many international organizations, including FAO, Gallup, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Her mission remains clear: Ensuring that everyone, everywhere, has access to the nourishing food they need to thrive.

This body of work responds to the consensus voiced by the Ag2Nut Community of Practice that I co-founded in 2010, that diversification of food production and measurement aligned with dietary needs are Key Recommendations for Improving Nutrition through Agriculture and Food Systems.