A lot is said about the role of nutrition activists in advocating in this field. Strictly speaking, our role goes well beyond advocating; we are supposed to stand by those affected as claim holders for them to understand, organize, mobilize and act upon their nutrition and resulting NCDs problem so as to proactively demand changes be made by the respective duty bearers at each level.
This is not a semantic difference only. It must be seen as pertaining to the right to food and adequate nutrition. The existence of the human rights covenants duly ratified by most nations gives claim holders the power to demand and no longer beg for the State and industry to make changes. (Note that this also encompasses extraterritorial obligations or ETOs where the duty bearers are entities other than the State --could be donors or corporations among other).
This distinction is indeed important. Why? Because the organization and mobilization of claim holders ought to become a central activity of our work in public health nutrition.
The distinction between advocating and demanding also has a connotation for understanding that human rights go beyond individual rights to also cover collective rights.
Does this really apply to our work in public nutrition? Of course it does!
How? Take the problems of overweight, obesity and NCDs. Industry (and the influence they exert /buy) wants us to believe that it is individual behavior that is the target we should address. But we know better, don’t we? Clearly vested interests are behind this myth being sold to us. Big Food/Big Soda profit from influencing our eating behavior from childhood-on particularly selling us ultra-processed foods galore. But they now want to show social responsibility. So they propose reformulating their products with less sugar, less salt and no trans-fats… But still want us to continue to be hooked to consuming these fast foods! On the other hand, have you given it a thought that Big Pharma profits from selling us medicines to prevent/treat NCDs (or miracle pills to treat obesity)? So, why should they be active advocates of the right to good nutrition?
Beware that the NCDs recent New York summit and the recent WHO report on obesity are rather weak in making the point of the responsibility of industry. Does this surprise you? We know about the links and the lobbying of both transnational corporations and the rich states that house them (also now affecting UN agencies!).
[As a byline, on the undernutrition side, we have witnessed 50 years plus of foreign aid not addressing the basic causes of preventable malnutrition so clearly spelled out in the late Urban Jonsson’s conceptual framework of the causes of malnutrition].
This quick review of the current situation is brief to the point of a caricature, but is sufficient to ask two questions:
1. Is it ‘advocacy’ that we need when facing the-powers-that-bend-policy decisions? Would this be a bit like ‘putting the other cheek’? and
2. What do I/you then mean by claim holders ‘demanding’ the human right to food and nutrition as pertains to overweight, obesity and NCDs?
Use this space to comment.
Dr. Claudio Schuftan