The new Nutrition Strategy sets out a framework for FAO’s future action
After an extensive consultative and iterative process over the last two years, the Vision and Strategy for FAO’s Work in Nutrition (FAO’s Nutrition Strategy) was endorsed at the 166th Session of the FAO (Food & Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations) Council last week.
The new strategy establishes FAO’s objectives for nutrition going forward and provides a framework to guide FAO’s action over the next five years.
The new Nutrition Strategy sets out a framework for FAO’s future action, which includes enhancing access to nutritious foods while reducing Food Loss and Waste, assessing the impact of COVID-19 on healthy diets and using the COVID-19 crisis as an opportunity to boost healthy diets and resilient agri-food systems.
It details how FAO aims to support countries in enabling healthy diets and boosting the capacity of all actors along the agri-food system to continue producing and delivering affordable, adequate, safe, diverse and culturally appropriate foods.
The new Nutrition Strategy brings FAO’s work in line with the nutrition challenges the world is facing. These include the rapid increase in obesity and the reality that many countries, communities and individuals suffer from multiple forms of malnutrition simultaneously.
Drawing on this, the Nutrition Strategy takes a ‘systems approach’, which focuses on the link between agriculture, food value chains, food environments, and access to healthy diets. This includes reforming all elements and activities related to food production, supply and consumption oriented towards healthy diets to prevent malnutrition.