FAO and PAHO / WHO hold the second edition of the International Workshop on Fruits and Vegetables

August 21, 2020, Santiago, Chile .The United Nations General Assembly declared 2021 the International Year of Fruits and Vegetables. As part of the preparation for next year's activities, FAO, the Pan American Health Organization, and the World Health Organization (PAHO / WHO) will hold a high-level technical workshop on fruits and vegetables, between  August 24 and September 9, 2020.

A select group of around 40 representatives from academia, governments, non-profit organizations and members of the private sector, from around the world, will participate in the event which the United Nations will host, thanks to the support of the Ministry of Social Development and Family of the Government of Chile, through the Choose Healthy Living Secretariat and the Actuemos Corporation, a Chilean non-profit organization".

This will be the second edition of the joint workshop between FAO and WHO/PAHO on this matter. The first took place in Kobe, Japan, in 2004. 16 years later, the workshop is held again, with the aim of updating the scientific evidence to understand which are the most effective interventions to promote the consumption of fruits and vegetables.

Specifically, the workshop is intended to analyze the direct and indirect impacts of the consumption of fruits and vegetables on human and planetary health, evaluate what are the public policies that promote sustainable and inclusive value chains and thus develop recommendations to improve the effectiveness of public policies in this area, in preparation for the events of the International Year of Fruits and Vegetables 2021.

The work of the experts who will participate in the workshop will be divided into five sessions; these will evaluate the policies that promote the consumption of fruits and vegetables as an integral part of healthy diets and the reduction of losses and waste of fruits and vegetables in food systems.

For these purposes, the experts will analyze research carried out by FAO and PAHO / WHO, along with other materials and discussions held during the workshop, with the aim of publishing a final report by the end of the year.