The UN Decade of Action on Nutrition 2016-2025
On 1st of April, the General Assembly proclaimed the United Nations Decade of Action on Nutrition, 2016-2025.
UNSCN, together with its members, welcomes this important step towards mobilising action to eradicate malnutrition in all its forms in all countries.
The UN Decade of Action on Nutrition is a commitment of Member States to undertake ten years of sustained and coherent implementation of policies and programmes, following the recommendations and commitments of the ICN2 Framework for Action and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Decade will increase visibility of nutrition action at the highest level and ensure coordination, strengthen multi-sectoral collaboration, create synergies and measure progress towards sustainable food systems and food and nutrition security for all.
Why do we need a UN Decade of Action on Nutrition?
Progress to reduce undernourishment and micronutrient deficiencies has been far too slow and uneven across regions, countries and populations groups. The prevalence of overweight and obesity is increasing in nearly all countries. On the other end, 821 million people remain chronically undernourished, 149 million children under 5 years of age are stunted, over 49.5 million children under 5 years are wasted, over two billion people suffer from micronutrient deficiencies and 2 billion people are affected by overweight (almost a third of adults worldwide) of whom around 678 million are obese.
The resolution recognises the need to eradicate hunger and prevent all forms of malnutrition worldwide.
The UN Decade of Action on Nutrition will provide an umbrella for a wide group of actors to work together to address these and other pressing nutrition issues in order to achieve the goals set out in the 2030 Agenda.
The General Assembly call upon WHO and FAO to lead the implementation of the UN Decade of Action on Nutrition, in collaboration with the World Food Programme, the International Fund for Agricultural Development and the United Nations Childrens Fund, and to identify and develop a work programme, using coordination mechanisms such as UNSCN, the UN System Standing Committee on Nutrition.
Michel Mordasini, former Chair of the UNSCN says “UNSCN stands ready to work along with WHO, FAO in collaboration with IFAD, WFP, UNICEF and other UN agencies, to make the Decade a success!”
Read more:
- Actions & Commitments
- UN Decade on Action on Nutrition Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 1 April 2016
- Report of the Joint FAO/WHO Secretariat on the Second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2)
- Second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2)
Latest content relevant to UN Decade of Action on Nutrition
Nutrition Decade Work Programme available in six UN languages
31/05/2017 - May 2017 marked an effective milestone in the Nutrition Decade with the release of its Work Programme. In response, Brazil and Ecuador became the first countries to make SMART commitments during the [...]
Ecuador becomes the second country to commit to the Nutrition Decade
25/05/2017 - 25 May 2017 With the long-term aim of improving the health and well-being of all Ecuadorians, Ecuador’s Vice-Minister of Health Dr. Fernando Cornejo announced the adoption of five SMART [...]
Brazil is the first to make SMART commitments to the Nutrition Decade
22/05/2017 - 22 May 2017 Through an announcement made by Ricardo Barros, Minister of Health of Brazil, Brazil became the first country to make commitments as part of the UN Decade of Action on Nutrition [...]
WHO Ambition and action in nutrition 2016-2025
17/05/2017 - WHO Ambition and action in nutrition 2016-2025 aims to define the unique value of WHO for advancing nutrition and to focus the Organization on what it does best. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable [...]
Work Programme of the UN Decade of Action on Nutrition
05/05/2017 - The Work Programme of the UN Decade of Action on Nutrition is now available! To ensure that the Work Programme presented the compelling vision necessary to enable strategic interaction and mutual [...]
UNSCN Discussion Paper - By 2030, end all forms of malnutrition and leave no one behind
18/04/2017 - The paper aims to present the centrality of nutrition in the current sustainable development agenda. It provides an overview of the numerous and inter-related nutrition targets that have been [...]
Nutrition Decade: The momentum is building
28/03/2017 - After several rounds of consultation in 2016 to agree on the scope and the vision for the Nutrition Decade, FAO and WHO as co-conveners produced its first draft work programme. The work programme is [...]
UNSCN Discussion Paper - Global Governance for Nutrition and the role of UNSCN
27/03/2017 - This paper aims to describe the current nutrition architecture and provides a detailed overview of the main nutrition actors and their mandate. It highlights the role of UNSCN in the architecture [...]
Civil Society “Manifesto” on Decade of Action on Nutrition
22/02/2017 - In February 2017, the platform of public interest civil society organizations and social movements that have actively engaged in the preparatory process for the Second International Conference on [...]
Work Programme of the UN Decade of Action on Nutrition – First Draft
19/02/2017 - The First Draft of the Work Programme of the UN Decade of Action on Nutrition is now available in all six official UN languages. To comment on this text, we welcome you to visit the online discussion [...]
