Глобальный форум по продовольственной безопасности и питанию (Форум FSN)

This time I will respond to the postings of the Belgian Food and Beverage Alliance and BASF, both, I would think, with an ‘axe to grind’ (or a vested interest?).

We all have, including  most contributors, an ‘axe to grind’; but ours is in the public interest… We have in common that we are critical of, but not private sector bashers. We look at what is happening with conflicts of interest (CoI) in public private partnerships (PPPs), in free trade agreement (FTAs), in multistakeholder platforms (the latter praised and called for by the two postings I comment on)… and what is the common denominator? An increasing interference in public decision-making. That is not acceptable to us defenders of the public interest. Unless the multiple CoI issue is addressed face-on with no more ‘go-arounds’, PPPs, multistakeholder platforms and FTAs are to remain in quarantine.

To the Alliance, I further say that “behaviour change promoting change and raising awareness of the importance of good nutrition among all consumers through public education campaigns” over-and-over puts the responsibility on the individual when we all know that the advertising and price structure of ultra-processed foods is the real culprit of over-nutrition and associated NCDs that the industry wants us to ignore.  Furthermore, claiming that “Experience has shown that collaborative multistakeholder actions represent not only one of the most cost-effective ways to address public health challenges, but are, in fact, the only way to tackle these global complex issues” is a gratuitous assertion not backed by facts. If you do not believe me, look at the SUN Initiative.

To our BASF colleague, I further say that claiming that “fortifying staple foods is one of the most cost-effective interventions to tackle hidden hunger” may be true but the key question is how sustainable (except for iodine), as opposed to community-based, food-based interventions together with stern economic disparity reduction measures resolving the problems of poverty. BASF also not only thinks that “promoting consumer awareness regarding nutrition” is key --see my comment above--, but also thinks “it can be done best by the (critical, they say) engagement of multiple stakeholders (in the said platforms?)” --see my comment above. Moreover, together with many, I do not see that “building local multi-stakeholder alliances can be supported by Fora such as UNSCN which can help strengthen private and public actors’ networks”.  Well, this is not exactly the role of a UN body committed to the objectives of the Decade and is not “an important contribution to a sustainable improvement of nutrition that is cost-effective and scalable”. If you do not believe me, look at the ample literature on food sovereignty by La Via Campesina.

Claudio Schuftan, Ho Chi Minh City

Dear Sir/Madam



Food adulteration is one of the biggest issues especially in poor countries where there is no check and balance by the government. Food adulteration does not only decrease the nutritional value but it also causes different hazardous diseases to humans and causes deaths. I suggest the FAO to help the poor nations in this regard and make uniform guidelines how to decrease food adulteration and increase food quality, thanks.

Dr. Amanullah

1.      What are your expectations for the UN Decade of Action on Nutrition and how could it make a significant difference in improving nutrition and food security of the people in your country within the next ten years?

WHO page with definition of nutrition: http://www.who.int/topics/nutrition/en/ on 9/25/2016 States: “Nutrition is the intake of food, considered in relation to the body’s dietary needs. Good nutrition – an adequate, well balanced diet combined with regular physical activity – is a cornerstone of good health. Poor nutrition can lead to reduced immunity, increased susceptibility to disease, impaired physical and mental development, and reduced productivity.”

Here in the United States [USA], we have a bit of a blind spot when taking stock of our own population’s nutritional needs. We see large numbers of children who are obese, have elevated cholesterol levels, along with adults who have bulging gut tissue related to uneducated food and beverage choices. These are only the more visible, obvious nutrition related challenges our US population faces.

According to the agreement, “..governments to exercise their primary role and responsibility for addressing undernourishment, stunting, wasting, underweight and overweight in children under five years of age, anaemia in women and children - among other micronutrient deficiencies. It also commits them to reverse the rising trends in overweight and obesity and reduce the burden of diet-related noncommunicable diseases in all age groups.

While these matters do impact populations in rural and low-income regions in my home country, there is currently little-to-no open political discourse to address nutrition. It is my personal and professional desire to see an increase in access to healthy locally grown foods as much as is feasible, with a necessary amount of trade to add nutrient rich foods grown elsewhere. This required a new body of legislative action, the Food Safety Modernization Act designed to assure acceptable quality standards for imported foods are met, as well as our own exports meet similar standards worldwide.

While robust agriculture crops and worldwide trade are mutually essential, so is a proper nutritional education program, taught from grade school levels all the way through college. We have reduced these program in lieu of science and math, although health enhancing nutrition is definitely a science all of its own.

Additionally, we have more land than many of the countries of the world, which in unused, yet owned privately. This includes ‘yards’ as the area of dirt in front and behind most homes is referred. While we have become accustomed to enjoying supermarket and farmers’ market foods both meats and produce, these foods will become less available as regulations for safely and securely delivering foods from farm to market become more stringent in efforts to reduce food borne illnesses.

Many Americans have sufficient areas to ‘farm’ some of their own vegetables, fruits, herbs and spices, reducing hunger and improving food security. However our focus is not on this valuable resource, yet.

In closing, academically certified nutrition education in schools, community centers, colleges, is one area for expected change over the next decade.

This along with increase in both urban, rural small food gardens, formerly call Victory Gardens during World War I and World War II. Currently the USDA NIFA and other agencies are encouraging small farms.

Incentives in these two directions need to be legislated, allowing public and private partnerships.

2.      What critical activities need to be included in the Work Programme for the implementation of the UN Decade of Action on Nutrition to reach the 2025 global nutrition targets? Which activities would need to be accelerated in your country to reach these targets? How could these activities be funded?

“Rome Declaration on Nutrition and Framework for Action adopted by the Second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2) in November 2014…..The Framework for Action commits governments to exercise their primary role and responsibility for addressing undernourishment, stunting, wasting, underweight and overweight in children under five years of age, anaemia in women and children - among other micronutrient deficiencies. It also commits them to reverse the rising trends in overweight and obesity and reduce the burden of diet-related noncommunicable diseases in all age groups.”

To accomplish works, population assessments similar as those statistics in the USA for child nutrition, which of course does not include adult hunger challenges as reported on google searches performed on October 1, 2016 [http://www.feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america/impact-of-hunger/child-…]

Food Insecurity

·         13.1 million children lived in food-insecure households in 2015.[i]

·         Twenty percent or more of the child population in 30 states and D.C. lived in food-insecure households in 2014, according to the most recent data available. Mississippi (27%) and New Mexico (27%) had the highest rates of children in households without consistent access to food.[ii]

·         In 2014, the top five states with the highest rate of food-insecure children under 18 were Mississippi, New Mexico, Arizona, Alabama, and Arkansas.[iii]

·         In 2014, the top five states with the lowest rate of food-insecure children under 18 were North Dakota, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, and Virginia.[iv]

Household adult databases of similar style are contained within the Women’s Health Organization of the USA.  In ‘Quick Health DATA Online’, each State, County-by-County household’s physical composition data was collected. Although it is an enormous amount if heath data, the focus during collection of that data was on not on nutrition and its role pertaining to health achievement and wellness. Since the format is already set, it may be feasible to included additional nutrition related sort files to aggregate such information with the least amount of cost and effort.

A statistical health related measures based on these populations, their geopolitical cultures, and economic structures would then need to be address, since nutrition needs can and do vary based on these demographics.

Then this aggregated data may be shared and milled into other Regions and Populations for design of legislation and incentives, trade and distribution systems.

3.      What can be done to accelerate and improve the quality of commitments from the various actors? What role(s) should public and private actors play in monitoring their implementation?

First and foremost in the USA, political discussions must begin to appear in the forefront of the public’s mind, followed by their elected officials. While children’s school lunches changed dramatically in the recent 5 years, there are mindsets, economics, and cultures to consider when changing food access and costing groceries.

It would appear our media is often driven more by pharmaceutical interventions, rather than by nutrition first, followed only when necessary, by medication. It is a mind shift that will require diligent efforts, education, and documentation including health studies to prove the value of food, quality of informed choice in selecting and preparing foods, over medicine.

We are beginning to see an edge of this shift in the USA related to the studies performed by the National Center for Integrative Health, where herbal supplementation is being included more often in research as well as the most recent microbiome studies/probiotics.

There are antidotal and empirical studies on record in oriental medicine and other traditional medical models, where food choices were the pharmacy (farmacy) of the past. For that reason, I believe these medical models are being included in the World Health Organization’s Traditional Medical Strategies through 2023. [http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/92455/1/9789241506090_eng.pdf?…]

4.      How can other relevant forums, such as the CFS and the UNSCN, contribute, and how can other movements (e.g. human rights, environment) be involved in the Decade?

The Committee on Food Security [CFS] and the United Nations Standing Committee on Nutrition [UNSCN] may best serve the entire Model of Change expected to occur as a result of a Decade of Action in Nutrition, as an information hub and research testing data base.

As is common in the models of change already in place worldwide related to food, it is time to create a data bridge from food to consumers, of data which can assist in making informed personal nutritious choices.

Choices by farmers and value added food handlers, can benefit in planning crop planting, based on the human needs/choices data, while at the same time, and as a direct result of climate or other environmental issues these foods may and likely will evolve. This will make a back-flow of foods available for consumption, which will need to be tested and observed, through a database, possibly the same one used at the consumer driven level, thereby keeping a continuous food chain flow, without impacting populations with hunger issues in the midst rapid fluctuations in food availability.

This will likely be the area in which health care providers are most valued, particularly those who have extensive training in the use of food to benefit the human healing experience. Professions like acupuncture, and other traditional medicine models where food is a tool to achieve health and wellness. People in the areas of Academics in Agriculture, from field specialist to IT technicians and Traditional Health Professionals, including acupuncturists, herbalist, microbiologists, chemists, naturopaths, etc., will be the Professions most reliable to manage a Nutrition HUB allowing a bridge from Ag to Consumer, thereby nutrition exchange to occur. 

English version

Dear Member!

For the purpose of ensuring food security in Kazakhstan it is necessary to expand existing practice of implementation of investment projects on import substitution and development of new export-oriented sectors in agrarian and industrial complex in the following directions:

– development of network of greenhouse facilities and vegetable storehouses;

– development of production of fruit and vegetable cultures using technology of drop irrigation;

– creation of network of feedlots of cattle with the developed export infrastructure;

– creation of network of points on slaughter of the cattle;

– the organization of meat-processing complexes with production of meat products in a vacuum package;

– development of network of dairy farms;

– development of production in deep conversion of thin wool;

– recovery of network of poultry farms;

– development of infrastructure of export of the Kazakhstan grain.

Alexander Kaigorodtsev, professor of the East Kazakhstan state university of S. Amanzholov.

Russian version

Уважаемые участники!

В целях обеспечения  продовольственной безопасности в Казахстане необходимо расширить существующую практики реализации инвестиционных проектов по импортозамещению и развитию новых экспортоориентированных секторов в АПК по следующим направлениям:

– развитие сети тепличных хозяйств и овощехранилищ;

– развитие производства плодоовощных культур с применением технологии капельного орошения;

– создание сети откормочных площадок КРС и МРС с развитой инфраструктурой экспорта;

– создание сети убойных пунктов;

– организация мясоперерабатывающих комплексов с производством блочного мяса и крупнокусковых нарезок в вакуумной упаковке;

– развитие сети молочно-товарных ферм;

– развитие производства по глубокой переработке тонкой шерсти;

– восстановление сети птицефабрик;

– развитие инфраструктуры экспорта казахстанского зерна.

Александр Кайгородцев, профессор Восточно-Казахстанского государственного университета им. С. Аманжолова.

English translation below

1. Cette question pour ma part fait appel a la solidarité et a l'humanisme des pays qui ont atteints un niveau élevé de production d'aliments variés comme l'Europe et les pays Américains. En effet il faut que les excédents alimentaires ne soient plus détruits pour maintenir les prix ou favoriser la hausse des prix sur le marché, c'est ce que nous avons vu pour le lait en France, pour les viandes de boeuf aux USA, bien d'autres exemples. Bien que le marché guide les activités du monde, il faut priviligier le bien être de son semblable. Ca semble imposssible mais sans cela, la pauvreté et la maladie ne seront jamais vaincu.
2. Me basant sur mes expériences, l'accent doit être mis sur a) la diversification alimentaires en produisant beaucoup de produits de qualité nutritionnelle comme les légumineuses, les produits maraichers, les viandes et les poissons. Ces aliments sont sources de valeurs nutritives pour les ménages. Aussi il faut investir dans: b) le transports et la distribution des produits en AFrique et à l'intérieur des Etats comme mon pays le Burkina Faso, de façon absolu, il y a une bonne production à travers le pays mais certaines provinces se trouvent démunies et ont un accès limité aux produits de bonne qulité même avec l'argent en main. c) Un autre point important est que les acteurs de développement, notamment les projets et les ONGs doivent semsibiliser et former sur la préparation des mets de qualité et la consommation primordiale des produits nutritifs come les viandes et les produits marraichers au lieu de 'nencouragger que la vente sur les marchés urbains, ce qui ménacent la sécurité alimentaire et nutritionnelle des ménages ruraux pauvres. d) travailler à valoriser la produits forestiers non ligneux tant pour la sécurité alimentaire et nutritionnelle mais aussi cela servira à crer des revenus et à protéger les ressources forestières. Cet aspects alimentaires n'est pas beaucoup pris en compte ni appuyés dans les projest de sécurité alimentaire et nutritionnelle. e) Enfin, il faut vulgariser les semences améliorées et certifiées jusque dans les hammeaux les plus reculé et surtout faciliter les processus de certification pour rendre accessible ces semences, crer des boutiques communales d'intrants agricoles et de luttes phytosanitaires. Pour financer ces activités, il d'abord que les budgets des Etats finances ces actions comme une source de souvereineté nationale et il faut diminuer les budget des armées pour cette "guerre" contre la faim et la malnutrition. Ensuite interviendra la solidarité international notamment faire contribuer les grosses indutries qui vivent des matières premières agricole africaines.
3. Pour accélerer le processus, il faut d'abord une volonté politique d'investir dans le secteur suivi d'une décision d'accoder une part significative des budgets dans la sécurité laimentaire et nutritionnelle, ensuite il faut travailler à disposer de personnes compétentes et connaissants bien le sujet pour travailler dans les services d'accompagnement compétents. Et ces deux points sont du ressort des pouvoirs public car il faut éveiller les consciences sur les valeurs des productions nationales et la capacités à produits locals et non s'attendre toujours à des suplléments alimentaires pour encore créer des dépenses externes et non durables. Le privé quant à lui doit reinvestir ue partie de ses bénéfices pour le développement de l'agriculture locale et apporter du soutien aux politiques locales. 
4. Le CSA et l'UNSCN peuvent travailler à mobiliser les Etats sur la part de leur budget à la sécurité alimentaire et nutritionnelle au lieu de les mettres dans des actions urgentes. Ces deux structures peuvent traviller à renforcer les capacités des acteurs sur le sujet et appuyer la mobilisation du secteur privé pour participer à la mise en oeuvre des activités car une population saine est un client consommateur permanent.

Thank you for this very interesting topic which brings coherence to strongly held views and mobilizes many actors around the world. To make my contribution, I am going to focus on the essentials of the questions raised:

1. This question, in my view appeals to the solidarity and humanity of countries which have achieved a high level of varied food production, such as Europe and the American countries. Indeed, food surpluses should no longer be destroyed in order to maintain prices or favor a rise in market prices, such as we have seen in the case of milk in France and beef in the USA and in many other examples. Although markets steer the way the world works, the wellbeing of our fellow men should take precedence. This may seem impossible, but without it, poverty and disease will never be conquered.
2. Based on my experience, the emphasis should be put on: a) food diversification, producing many highly nutritional products, like pulses, vegetable products, meat and fish. These foods are valuable sources of nutrition for households. It is also necessary to invest in: b) transport and distribution of products in Africa and throughout the interior of countries like mine, Burkina Faso, in a thorough going way, there is a good overall production across the country, but certain provinces are deprived and have limited access to good quality products, even if they have the cash ready to hand; c)  Another important point is that the actors for development, in particular projects and NGOs, must promote awareness and give training in the preparation of quality dishes and the essential consumption of nutritive products like meat and vegetable products instead of only encouraging their sale to the urban markets, which threatens food security and nutrition in the poor rural households; d) work to create value for non-ligneous products from the forest not only for food security and nutrition, but also because this will help create income and protect the forest resources. These aspects of food provision are not much taken into account or supported in the food security and nutrition projects; e) Finally, it is necessary to disseminate improved and certified seeds even to the most remote villages and especially facilitate the certification processes to make these seeds accessible, create communal shops for agricultural inputs and pest control products. To fund these activities, the State budgets should finance these actions as a form of national sovereignty, if necessary by reducing the budget for defense and using it for this "war" against hunger and malnutrition. Next, international solidarity will intervene, in particular, to get the big industries, which use African agricultural raw material, to contribute.
3. To accelerate this process, there must first be the political will to invest in the sector followed by a decision to grant a significant part of the budgets to food security and nutrition, followed by working to have people who are competent and knowledgeable in the subject to provide the appropriate accompanying services. And these two points are within the jurisdiction of public power because it is important to raise awareness of the value of national products and local production capacity  instead of  always waiting for food aid in order to create still more external and non-sustainable expenditure.  The private sector, for its part, must reinvest some of its profits in developing local agriculture and provide support for local policies. 
4. CFS and UNSCN can work to mobilize the States regarding the share of their budget for food security and nutrition instead of treating them as emergencies. These two entities could work to reinforce actors’ capabilities on the subject and support the mobilization of the private sector to participate in the implementation of activities because a healthy population is a permanent consumer client.

Action of the UN on Nutrition will never reach rural areas, when there would be illiteracy. Even action of the UN on nutrition will never work in whole country, when the country is governed by corrupt politician and ferocious dictators. There will be no any improvement in nutrition and food security within the next ten years. Secondly the winner in todays election particularly in developing nations is the one who spent money, in other words who is land lord. So how can an institution work in such situation for the food safety in such places. Moreover, terrorist are killing people and in such violence how will the UN program for nutrition will work? In short, UN should first take serious steps to remove the corrupt politician and ban the terrorist organizations, then its program on food safety will do work. First safety of humanity is important than safety of food and vice versa. For the implementation of the UN action on Nutrition, the United Nations must hire the honest Academician rather than the government who can extend the knowledge of nutrition and food safety. Most of the governments are not even honestly complete their own five year plan particularly the governments of developing nations. 

Dear all,

We are thrilled with the engagement we have seen over the last few weeks. Over 70 contributions from all regions and stakeholder groups and, according to the FSN Forum, more than 10,000 visits from almost every country in the world—all in less than one month. We’re also starting to hear how you expect to contribute to the Decade; examples included the International International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) offer to help evaluate the effectiveness of nutrition programmes and the commitment from the Grocery Manufacturers Association to limit marketing to children in schools.

Khairul Zarina Mohd Yusop from Malaysia emphasized the rise of non-communicable diseases in her country, mostly due to unhealthy diets. The National Plan of Action for Nutrition for Malaysia has incorporated a whole-society and whole-government approach to tackle the problem. Clement Goldson from Jamaica raised the idea that unsafe food should be regulated in the same way as cigarettes are, and stressed the need for better labelling and awareness raising.

We all agree on the universality of the problem and, broadly, on solutions. Examples shared in the discussion show that, despite the progress in reducing malnutrition—specifically undernutrition— progress has been too modest and uneven across regions, populations groups and gender. Meanwhile, the number of overweight people has increased enormously in virtually all countries worldwide demonstrating that the several forms of malnutrition are still on the rise.

Several of you noted the role our food systems play in providing sustainable, healthy, diverse diets and suggested that increased production is key. You’ve specified that this increase would need to focus on quality production to be able to address micro-nutrient deficiencies and would be geared towards lowering the consumption of ultra-processed foods. The global food system—in other words, the types of foods produced and how they are processed, traded, retailed and marketed—is failing to provide adequate, safe, diversified and nutrient-rich food for all in a sustainable way. Fixing food systems, so that they are sustainable and promote healthy diets will be vital to improving nutrition.

Food is only one part of the equation to ensure better nutritional outcomes for all, as it also includes care and universal health systems.  Lal Manavado from Norway noted that the success of food production hinges on a local context (e.g. social, trade, transport, politics, education, communication) that is able to support and absorb the supply of wholesome food produced. Rosaline Ntula from Ethiopia echoed this point, highlighting the need to address nutrition in every component of the food system, from production, marketing, purchasing power, consumption and uptake.

We have heard that different forms of malnutrition can be found in the same country, the same community, the same household and even the same person. With less than a week left for this discussion, I’m looking forward to hearing more excellent examples of your plans to contribute to the success of the Decade.

Christine

Fortifying staple foods in one of the most cost-effective interventions to tackle vitamin and mineral deficiencies, also called 'hidden hunger', and thus, contribute to sustainable development.

In order to improve nutrition for people at the base of the pyramid, affordable nutritious foods need to become accessible. It is critical to work together in multi-stakeholder alliances: local food producers can gain expertise how to fortify their food, and public authorities can standardize food fortification levels and assess the quality of the products. Lastly, the awareness of consumers about nutrition including adequately fortified and certified foods can be strengthened best among multiple stakeholders.

If all relevant stakeholder groups collaborate effectively, food fortification programs can contribute to an improvement in nutrition for all income groups in a sustainable and impactful way. Such local multi-stakeholder alliances are a critical need to administrate food fortification programs. Forums, such as the CFS and the UNSCN, can support such institution building by strengthening private and public actors' networks and encourage donors to support partnership interventions. Looking at the technical implementation, private sector businesses can support local food producers by using their expertise on food fortification and thus enable food producers to fortify their staple foods. This is an important contribution to a sustainable improvement of nutrition that is cost-effective and scalable.

Greetings.

My contribution is as follows:

1. We expect that this Action on Nutrition should target vulnerable groups especially in the rural areas in low income countries like Nigeria. With the right amount of commitment, significant progress can be achieved.

2. The work plans should include actions against climate change with respect to mitigation and adaptation; while increasing awareness, and involving local community people in these processes; thereby making the people (beneficiaries) look forward to the expected future outcome.

In addition, issues of climate change-induced migration should be included, as evidence now suggests that nutrition and food security of households left behind are affected significantly.

Also, post-harvest losses of especially perishable farm produce constitute a problem in rural many rural communities in Nigeria. In other words, providing storage and preservation facilities would help minimize these losses. Therefore, funding through co-operative societies in these domains will be effective at the community level.

3. Making the actors be more involved in the process of implementation will help to improve commitment. Setting-up of monitoring and implementation committees by public and private actors at the local and community levels to monitor progress at intervals, and report feedback with regard to implementation.

4. All relevant forums can contribute momentarily through meaningful suggestion(s) on particular courses of action based on the feedbacks from the monitoring process.

International Food and Beverage Alliance

Comments for the Online Consultation on

“Maximizing the Impact of the UN Decade of Action on Nutrition”

The International Food & Beverage Alliance thanks the FAO and the UNSCN for the opportunity to provide comments on the development of the Work Programme of the UN Decade of Action on Nutrition.   

We welcomed the UN General Assembly resolution proclaiming 2016-2025 as the Decade of Action on Nutrition as a call for global action in tackling the critical issues of poverty, malnutrition and NCDs.  

We believe nutrition has a central role to play in achieving global well-being. We also believe that business has both an incentive and a responsibility to be part of the global effort to reduce malnutrition and improve nutrition. 

We recognize the important and unique role the food and non-alcoholic beverage industry has to play in global nutrition and have been doing our part to help consumers worldwide achieve healthy and sustainable diets.  We are formulating and innovating products that support the goal of improving diets – reducing key nutrients of public health concern, adding nutrients to reduce micronutrient deficiencies and promoting food components and food groups beneficial for good health, such as fibre, whole grains, fruits, vegetables and low-fat dairy. We are providing nutrition information to consumers to help empower them to make informed dietary decisions tailored to their needs and lifestyles; restricting marketing to children; and promoting balanced diets and healthy lifestyles in our workplaces and in the communities we serve.

As food and beverage companies that both depend on food production for its raw material and seek to deliver nutritious foods and beverages to consumers, IFBA members are committed to sustainable agriculture and the transition to a sustainable food future – innovating more food choices by using fewer natural resources.  More effective management of inputs to agricultural production (soil health, land use, water, pest management, etc.) is critical to support improved environmental impacts.  Adoption of new technologies and practices will also help to optimize efficiencies, reduce post-harvest waste and improve overall sustainable production. Companies are also working with their suppliers and smallholder farmers, including female farmers, to promote sustainable supply chains, helping to increase farmer knowledge and yields, improve their livelihoods and build thriving communities.

The lack of water, sanitation and hygiene is one of the greatest obstacles to poverty alleviation and economic growth in many countries.  All people must have access to a safe food and water supply. IFBA members are committed to ensuring that consumers and the communities in which IFBA companies operate have safe and affordable water supplies.  We are investing in innovative processes and new technologies to promote efficient and sustainable use of water for economic development and supporting programmes worldwide that provide access to safe and clean water and improve sanitation and hygiene behaviours.

Achieving the full impact of nutrition on health and the sustainable development goals requires a whole-of-society approach and collaboration among governments, civil society and the private sector.  Experience has shown that collaborative multistakeholder actions represent not only one of the most cost-effective ways to address public health challenges, but are, in fact, the only way to tackle these global complex issues. We have committed our resources and expertise to do our part.

Critical activities to be included in the Work Programme

·         A successful decade:  For the purposes of defining and prioritizing the appropriate interventions, we believe it is important that the drafters of the Work Programme define what a successful decade will look like.

·         A holistic approach:  Nutrition crosses all sectors and all stakeholders.  Success in addressing the challenge of malnutrition depends not only on food security and agriculture, but also on education, health and social development.  

·         Government leadership:  Achieving collaborations that engage non-State actors requires a systematic approach, a sustained alignment of efforts based on an agreed set of actions and an enabling environment, led by governments.

·         Clearly defined roles and responsibilities:  Clear rules of engagement and defined expectations, roles and responsibilities of each non-State actor is critical.

·         Evidence-based strategies and policies:   Interventions must be supported by strong scientific evidence of what works and why.  We need to understand what types of policy initiatives are likely to be most effective and cost-effective.

·         A flexible set of interventions:  Given the unique needs of different countries, the Work Programme will require a comprehensive set of interventions, capable of being modelled to meet countries’ needs.

·         Best practice models:  We must all work to identify and share good practice from around the world and increase access to knowledge and innovations that will inform and enhance the effectiveness of the interventions. A database of case studies and best practice models could be gathered and analyzed to determine the appropriateness or scalability of certain interventions in different settings and regions. Public-private partnerships and commitments that have already been developed, for example, the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) and the SUN Business Network, offer the potential for further scaling.

·         Behaviour change:  Promoting change and raising awareness of the importance of good nutrition among all consumers through public education campaigns and in schools and communities is critical and will require a collective effort by all stakeholders.

·         An accountability framework:  With clearly defined roles and responsibilities for all stakeholders, specific indicators, and a robust mechanism to monitor policy development and implementation and assess the effectiveness of the interventions. We all share a collective responsibility to address this global challenge and believe all stakeholders must have a hand in the development of accountability mechanisms. 

·         Interim targets:  We recommend the Work Programme include interim targets and a commitment to conduct updates, say every 3-4 years throughout the Decade to ensure ongoing progress and to allow for an accelerated process if necessary.

We look forward to working with all stakeholders and exploring new collaborations as we all work to end hunger and eradicate malnutrition worldwide.