The World Food Day national event focused on youth with educative and engaging activities on nutrition, healthy diets and living

Colombo - The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) of the United Nations have highlighted the need to step up efforts to end malnutrition, and ensure food security and healthy diets for all. The two UN agencies call on all sectors, the government, public sector representatives, farmers, businesses and the general public to make nutrition and healthy diets a priority.

World Food Day is a day to highlight global efforts to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 2 – Zero Hunger, but also to underline the important role of food and agriculture in achieving the overall 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

In recent decades, people have dramatically changed their diets and eating patterns as result of globalization, urbanization and income growth. They have moved from seasonal, mainly plant-based and fibre-rich dishes to high calorie diets, which are high in refined starches, sugar, fats, salt, processed foods, meat and other animal-source products. A combination of unhealthy diets and sedentary lifestyles have sent overweight and obesity rates soaring in Sri Lanka and around the world.

Sri Lanka is facing a triple burden of malnutrition, with stagnant rates of undernutrition combined with growing overweight/obesity. In the recent years, while the prevalence of undernutrition such as wasting and stunting in young children has remained more or less the same, prevalence of overweight and obesity in school children and adults have increased. For instance, 45 percent of women of reproductive age (15-49 years) are either overweight or obese.

Speaking at the World Food Day 2019 commemoration event in Colombo today, Xuebing Sun the FAO Representative for Sri Lanka and the Maldives said, “The public appetite for a better food system is strong. That is clear from consumers’ growing interest in where their food is coming from and how it is produced. That demand can catalyse positive results in the nutrition arena from urging the government to make nutritious foods available, accessible and affordable, and encouraging the private sector to produce healthier food.” 

Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture, K.D.S. Ruwanchandra recognized the need to reorient agricultural priorities to focus more on nutritional quality and diversity, to meet the nutritional needs of a growing population. Speaking at the event he said, “Moving away from high-yielding crop production to producing a diversity of nutritious foods such as fruits, vegetables, legumes and nuts is important. It can not only contribute to a balanced diet but can also help farmers become resilient to climate change and produce food according to the demands in the local and international market.”

WFP Deputy Country Head for Sri Lanka, Andrea Berardo also spoke at the event, weighing in on the focus on youth this year, “As WFP celebrates 50 years in Sri Lanka, we must look to the future. Thus it is vitally important to engage the young generation to make informed decisions about their diet and lifestyle, as the decisions of today affect the future of tomorrow. We also believe that youth can become change-makers and advocates for healthy diets, thus helping to create a healthy Sri Lanka where everyone has access to safe and nutritious food.”

Learning about healthy diets and lifetsyles

The World Food Day 2019 national event saw the participation of over 100 school students and teachers, representatives from the Government of Sri Lanka, key stakeholders including fellow UN agencies, private sector and development organizations. Former Sri Lanka cricketer and ICC Match Referee Roshan Mahanama shared his personal insights on the benefits of healthy eating for an active and productive life.

A multi-sectoral approach was used to design the WFD campaign, which was focused on adolescent schoolchildren (15-17 years old).  World Food Day 2019 saw the collaborative efforts between the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Education which facilitated the participation of students for the event and the Ministry of Health and Nutrition which conducted fun, educative and engaging awareness creation activities for the over 100 children who participated.

The Food Panel designed by the Health Promotion Bureau, of the Ministry of Health consists of five activities focusing on food groups and healthy eating habits.  The Bureau trained undergraduate students from the University of Wayamba in Sri Lanka to facilitate the game for the schoolchildren at World Food Day 2019.

The messages shared at this year’s event reflected that the importance of making healthy, informed food choices is about not only addressing hunger, but also nourishing people while nurturing the planet.