This article highlights the importance of maternal and child food and nutrition security during COVID-19. The COVID‐19 pandemic has already led to major increases in unemployment and is expected to lead to unprecedented increases in poverty and food and nutrition insecurity, as well as poor health outcomes. Families where young children, youth, pregnant and lactating women live need to be protected against the ongoing protracted pandemic and the aftershocks that are very likely to follow for years to come. Because food, nutrition, health, and socio‐economic outcomes are intimately inter‐linked, it is essential to find out how to effectively address the need to reconfigure and to provide better intersectoral coordination among global and local food, health care, and social protection systems taking equity and sustainability principles into account. Implementation science research informed by complex adaptive systems frameworks will be needed to fill in the major knowledge gaps. Implementation science research informed by complex adaptive systems frameworks will be needed to fill in the major knowledge gaps.
