ROME NUTRITION WEEK 2026 WORLD NUTRITION DAY 2026 High-Level Event: “Delivering as One for Coherent Nutrition Action” Opening Remarks

Dear UN Nutrition Chair,

Excellences,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I recommended UN Secretary-General to need more coherent actions, together.

I have always championed nutrition through action.

I control my body and my health through healthy and nutritious foods. I have not taken medicines in the past years, and I have had no cold, no COVID-19.

We need good nutritious and healthy foods.

I also encourage all of you to implement the Four Betters: better production – for the producers mainly; better nutrition; and then of course a better environment; and a better life – this is not a slogan; it should be part of your life.

World Nutrition Day is a moment for renewed action on nutrition.

We were fortunate that the first FAO Director-General was a famous nutritionist. That is why, during the past 81 years, we have always kept nutrition as a consistent focus.

I welcome all Members and partners who have joined us today under the theme of “Delivering as One for Coherent Nutrition Action.”

This theme is not merely a slogan – it is an operational imperative.

FAO’s mandate is clear: to achieve food security for all and ensure that people have regular access to enough nutritious food to lead active, healthy lives – and robust, dynamic lives at different stages of development.

Yet today, over 2.3 billion people in the world are food insecure, and an estimated 2.6 billion cannot afford a healthy diet.

I always challenge my brother, the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO): health organizations, health ministers should start with healthy food because every day, everyone takes healthy food, and only 10 percent of people maybe take medicine.

So, that is the role of FAO: to cover the 100 percent; while WHO may cover 10 percent.

People are willing to pay extra money for that 10 percent, but not pay enough for the 100 percent of healthy food, which is so fundamentally important and fundamental for the quality of life.

That is why in the Four Betters, the last one is a Better Life - not better livelihood. I debated this with my colleagues here seven years ago.

These numbers are the result of complex inter-connected factors, with unhealthy diets common to all forms of malnutrition, or even overnutrition.

Recognition of these issues is embedded in FAO’s Strategic Framework 2022-2031, founded on the Four Betters: better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life—leaving no one behind.

The updated Vision and Approach for FAO’s Work in Nutrition 2025-31 clearly states that better nutrition is achieved through food security and enabling access to and consumption of healthy diets, taking into consideration unique contextual food preferences.

It also tells us that better nutrition is enabled by policy coherence and innovations across all the Four Betters, informed by data and evidence, and supported through enhanced national capacities.

As part of our work on providing evidence-based data, later this year FAO will publish the first High-Level Report on the State of Healthy Diets – it took seven years to become part of the flagship publications.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Food security is not a problem of production alone – it is the combination of food availability, food accessibility and food affordability.

We must produce sufficient, diverse, and safe food, but food availability is not just about calories – it is about the quality of what we grow.

Through the “Four Levels of Food” framework, we see a ladder:

First: Basic Food – these are the staples that prevent hunger, but not malnutrition.

Second: Nutritious Food – this includes foods like fruits, vegetables, legumes, and eggs that provide essential vitamins and minerals.

Third: Healthy Food – which comprises a balanced diets aligned with dietary guidelines, reducing risks of non-communicable diseases.

And Fourth: Functional Foods – these are foods with scientifically proven benefits beyond basic nutrition, such as fermented products or bio-fortified crops. In Asia, we believe any functional foods come from herbs; so food and herbs have the same origin. That is the level of the highest standard of food security – functional food. 

FAO is working with countries to reshape agrifood systems, so they deliver not just basic staples, but nutritious, healthy, and functional foods.

This means diversifying production, reducing post-harvest losses, and protecting biodiversity to ensure food diversity on our plates.

Food accessibility is a matter of physical and economic reach.

For rural communities, indigenous peoples, and women-headed households, we need targeted interventions such as school feeding programmes, local food procurement, and support for smallholder farmers to connect to markets.

The greatest challenge lies in food affordability.

Today, healthy foods are simply too expensive for billions of people; with the cost of a nutritious diet exceeding average incomes in many low-income countries.

Even in the high-income countries there is not enough food diversity with reasonable prices. Yes, we need some profit to sustain businesses, but it should be contained.

We cannot solve this by production alone – we need social protection, income support, and policies that lower the price of fruits, vegetables, and proteins.

FAO advocates for an agrifood systems transformation that makes healthy diets affordable for all, and supports Members in shaping and implementing the policies, investments and innovations needed for this transformation.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The “Four Levels of Food” give us a roadmap, but it also confirms that to move a population from basic to functional foods requires systemic coherence.

That is why “Delivering as One” is so critical.

No single agency can fix food affordability.

No single ministry can ensure accessibility.

We need inter-institutional, cross-government and effective collaboration with all stakeholders.

FAO remains committed to working with all of you.

Together, we need to:

First: align agrifood policies with nutrition outcomes.

An important platform to achieve this is the UN Decade of Action on Nutrition, as well as the Global Action Programme on Food Security and Nutrition.

Second: strengthen food environment monitoring.

This will allow us to identify where healthy foods are too expensive or unavailable, and act accordingly.

Third: promote biofortification and functional food innovations.

Working with partners to deliver higher nutrient density in everyday crops, particularly for vulnerable populations.

Dear Colleagues,

On this World Nutrition Day, let us move beyond fragmented efforts and commit to working together in an efficient, effective and coherent manner to ensure that basic, nutritious, healthy, and functional foods reach those who need them most.

Rome Nutrition Week reminds us that Rome is not only a historic city but a global hub for food governance,

And it offers us an important opportunity to strengthen our collective effort—to share knowledge, align priorities, and accelerate action.

It is also a powerful example of partnership in practice.

The path forward is complex, but the direction is clear.

We must move forward together, to build a future where healthy diets and better nutrition ensure a better life for all – leaving no one behind.

Enjoy your life, but enjoy your healthy food first!

Thank you.