2 December 2016: The International Symposium on Sustainable Food Systems for Healthy Diets and Improved Nutrition brought together more than 600 government representatives, parliamentarians, health and nutrition experts and other stakeholders to discuss country-level challenges and successes in the nutritional reshaping of food production, processing, marketing and retail systems, in order to better tackle the problem of malnutrition.

Organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO), the Symposium was held from 1-2 December 2016, in Rome, Italy.

The symposium took a systems approach and focused on three main sub-themes: supply side policies and measures for increasing access to healthy diets; demand side policies and measures for increasing access and empowering consumers to choose healthy diets; and measures to strengthen accountability, resilience and equity within the food system.

Noting that one in three people globally suffers from some form of malnutrition — either undernutrition or obesity — FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva stressed in his opening remarks that no country is immune from this problem, for which the human, social, environmental and economic costs are “overwhelming.” He called on governments to: encourage the diversification of agriculture; improve post-harvest management; facilitate market access for poor family farmers and guarantee food-safety; and empower consumers to choose healthy food and diets through nutrition-sensitive social protection, nutrition education, and effective and accurate labeling and advertising.

Underscoring that nutrition should be considered a public issue and a State responsibility, Graziano da Silva pledged FAO’s support to help countries adopt a food systems approach to address all aspects of the food chain, from production and processing to marketing and consumption.

Beatrice Lorenzin, Minister of Health of Italy and Chair of the Symposium, said that food is not just the most basic and fundamental source of energy, but also a cure, as good nutrition can be “the number one weapon against chronic, noncomunicable diseases.”

Delivering remarks on behalf of Margaret Chan, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General, Francesco Branca, WHO Director of Nutrition for Health and Development, highlighted that, through the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), WHO is committed to ending all forms of malnutrition by 2030. She underlined the need for multi-stakeholder collaboration that includes governments, the private sector and civil society, to rapidly achieve a “dramatic change” in food systems and the food environment, for the improvement of everybody’s nutrition.

Beatrice Lorenzin, Minister of Health of Italy and Chair of the Symposium, said that food is not just the most basic and fundamental source of energy, but also a cure, as good nutrition can be “the number one weapon against chronic, noncomunicable diseases.” She further called for education programmes that teach not only the value of eating well, but of food cultures and traditions that support health living, like the Mediterranean diet. She urged innovation and investment aimed at making nutritional gains in agriculture and food systems, as well as the creation of national observatories on nutrition to track progress and identify areas for improvement.

The Director General of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Shenggen Fan, underlined the importance of better data and policies informed by research in helping countries address their malnutrition problems.

During the Symposium, King Letsie III of Lesotho was announced FAO’s newest Special Ambassador for Nutrition. He joined Queen Letizia of Spain in this role, who attended the Symposium as special guest and reviewed the outcomes of the Symposium’s working groups. King Letsie III explained that he will reach out to and interact with many people, particularly with policy makers, but will not limit himself to the health and agriculture sectors, noting that nutrition requires a multisectoral approach. He also underscored the need to conduct in-depth research on traditional foods and better promote them within respective countries. He explained that exposing and elevating the importance of traditional foods and their nutritional value would encourage their local production and consumption, bringing both health and societal benefits.

Graziano da Silva explained that the symposium was held to push for the implementation of commitments made during the Second International Conference on Nutrition. Closing the two-day event, he noted that the Decade of Action on Nutrition could be “a great platform” for mobilizing concerted efforts to end malnutrition in every country. The International Decade on Nutrition was declared by the UN in April 2016 to support both national and international efforts to meet the nutrition-related targets of the SDGs. [FAO Symposium Website] [FAO Press Release on the Opening of the Symposium] [FAO Press Release on King Letsie III of Lesotho appointed FAO’s newest Special Ambassador for Nutrition] [FAO Press Release on the Closing of the Symposium] [FAO Press Release on the Participation of Queen Letizia of Spain] [UN Press Release] [IFPRI Press Release]