By Savanna Henderson, Humanitas Global
Along with endorsement of the Rome Declaration on Nutrition and the Framework for Action of the Second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2), The UN Decade of Action on Nutrition (2016-2025) proclaimed by the UN General Assembly on 1 April 2016 calls for accelerated global action to achieve an end to hunger and malnutrition within the Sustainable Development Agenda and framed by the Rome Declaration. More specifically, the resolution catalyzes governments to develop, set and commit to national nutrition targets for 2025.The Framework for Action further calls on Member States to act across the following six pillars for nutrition action based on commitments made in the Rome Declaration on Nutrition and recommendations within the ICN2 Framework for Action:
- Sustainable food systems for healthy diets
- Aligned health systems providing universal coverage of essential nutrition actions
- Social protection and nutrition education
- Trade and investment for improved nutrition
- Enabling food and breastfeeding environments
- Review, strengthen and promote nutrition governance and accountability
Integral to implementation of the Decade of Action on Nutrition is utilization of existing resources and institutions and participation by governments and relevant stakeholders. Partners from all sectors, civil society, private, and academia, are invited to support nutrition commitments through evidence-informed advocacy and through collective work across sectors and constituencies. Accountability mechanisms with opportunities to assess progress towards commitments will also be important to keep commitments on-track.
The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) were identified as leaders of execution of the Decade, in collaboration with the World Food Programme (WFP, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), with involvement of coordination mechanisms such as the United Nations System Standing Committee on Nutrition (SCN) and multi-stakeholder platforms such as the Committee on World Food Security (CFS).
The Decade of Action on Nutrition is a commitment to action on sustainable development, with nutrition and food security as the crux, at the highest level for the next 10 years. Through multisectoral collaboration and coordination, the Decade will spur progress towards a food and nutrition secure world for all.
