The 10 years running until 2025 will be a critical time for action to build healthy and sustainable food systems and end malnutrition in all its forms, UNFAO Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva said. "The purpose of the Decade of Action on Nutrition is to continue to draw the world`s attention to the importance of combatting malnutrition," he said.

Speaking at an event at the United Nations General Assembly celebrating the United Nations Decade of Action on Nutrition, Graziano da Silva reminded governments of their commitments made at the Second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2) in 2014 and called on them to transform those commitments into action through national policies and programs, according to UNFAO.

Today, one in three people worldwide, nearly 2.5 billion people, suffer from at least one form of malnutrition, ranging from hunger to obesity to a lack of critical nutrients. "FAO has maintained a great synergy with WHO in leading the efforts in the fight against all forms of malnutrition. WHO is the lead in nutrition and FAO is here to complement that work. FAO has developed a work plan focused on the promotion of healthy food and healthy diets through nutritional education and the transformation of food systems," said Graziano da Silva. 

Today, some 159 million children under the age of five are stunted - meaning they have a low height for their age. Another 50 million children in that age bracket are wasted - in other words, they have low weight compared to their height. Meanwhile, some 1.9 billion people are overweight, of whom 600 million are obese. 

Well-nourished children, inversely, are 33% more likely to escape poverty as adults. This means that investing in nutrition has significant potential to break endemic poverty cycles and boost economic development by allowing people to live healthy, productive lives.

To support concrete action on nutrition programs, FAO and WHO will further organize special meetings to strengthen countries' technical capacities to tackle new nutrition challenges. Both agencies also agreed to put in place a solid system for reporting and monitor achievements.

Source : QNA