Regional symposium on sustainable food systems for healthy diets and improved nutrition

A joint FAO/WHO Regional Symposium on Sustainable Food Systems for Healthy Diets and Improved Nutrition is scheduled to take place on the 16th and 17th of November 2017, in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire. This Regional Symposium will precede the 8^th Africa Day for Food and Nutrition Security on 18 November, 2017.

In December 2016, FAO and WHO successfully co-organized an International Symposium on Sustainable Food Systems for Healthy Diets and Improved Nutrition. This was a follow-up to the recommendations by Member States during the International Conference on Nutrition (ICN-2) and the Declaration of the UN-Decade of Action on Nutrition to operationalize the Rome Declaration and its Framework for Action on Nutrition.

The Africa Regional Symposium will focus on the region’s specific contextual realities as a follow up to the strategic global events.

The main objective of the Regional Symposium is to recognize the long-term benefits of sustainable food systems for healthier diets and improved nutrition on the socio-economic development of Africa and create the platform for stakeholders to re-commit to dedicate resources for sustained and coherent implementation of the various policies, programmes and initiatives to impact nutrition and health.

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16 November 2017, Abidjan – Vice-President of Côte d’Ivoire, Daniel Kablan Duncan, officially opened the Joint FAO-WHO Africa Regional Symposium on Sustainable Food Systems for Healthy Diets and Improved Nutrition.

More than 200 participants from 47 African countries including parliamentarians, policy-makers, academicians, researchers, students, civil society and farmers’ organizations, the private sector and development partners gathered in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire for the Symposium with the aim of reviewing evidence, examining policy and programme implications and providing recommendations on how sustainable food systems to optimize improved nutrition outcomes with nutritionally balanced diets and healthy lifestyles in Africa.

The Africa regional symposium was an opportunity to present the third edition of FAO Regional Overview on Food Security and Nutrition in Sub-Saharan Africa.

FAO was represented by Abebe Haile-Gabriel, Regional Programme Leader for Africa, Anna Lartey, FAO Director for Nutrition and Germain Dasylva, FAO Representative to Côte d'Ivoire.