Kuwait is committed to work with the international community to fight malnutrition found in various parts of the world, Minister of Health Ali Saad Al-Obaidi has said.
He made the statement in his address to the opening session of the Second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2) that kicked off in Rome on Wednesday. Al-Obaidi called for collaborating efforts to face all forms of malnutrition, amid challenges imposed by the international conditions.
Catastrophes and emergency situations in several parts of the world affect the provision of adequate food to people, leading to malnutrition which negatively impacts health and sustainable development, Minister Al-Obaidi said. Climate conditions and other environment factors have negative effects on health.
The Kuwaiti Minister stressed the importance of developing a world view for countering malnutrition, focusing on sufferer children, women and the elderly, in particular people with special needs.
Kuwait has taken tangible steps in that respect through several policies and initiatives to face challenges caused by malnutrition, the Minister said.
Meanwhile, in a major step towards eradicating malnutrition worldwide, over 170 countries today made a number of concrete commitments and adopted a series of recommendations on policies and investments aimed at ensuring that all people have access to healthier and more sustainable diets, the FAO said online.
Ministers and senior officials responsible for health, food or agriculture and other aspects of nutrition adopted the Rome Declaration on Nutrition, and a Framework for Action, which set out recommendations for policies and programs to address nutrition across multiple sectors.
The move came at the opening of the ICN2, organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO), in cooperation with leading world organizations and institutions.
"The Rome Declaration on Nutrition enshrines the right of everyone to have access to safe, sufficient and nutritious food, and commits governments to preventing malnutrition in all its forms, including hunger, micronutrient deficiencies and obesity," it said.
The Framework for Action recognizes that governments have the primary role and responsibility for addressing nutrition issues and challenges, in dialogue with a wide range of stakeholders-including civil society, the private sector and affected communities.
"We have the knowledge, expertise and resources needed to overcome all forms of malnutrition," said FAO Director-General Josأ© Graziano da Silva.
"Governments must lead the way," he added. "But the push to improve global nutrition must be a joint effort, involving civil society organizations and the private sector." The Rome Declaration and Framework for Action, "are the starting point of our renewed efforts to improve nutrition for all, but they are not the finishing line. Our responsibility is to transform the commitment into concrete results," Graziano da Silva said.