Countries vow to combat malnutrition through firm policies and actions
Second International Conference on Nutrition, Rome
Ministers and top officials from over 170 countries endorse political Declaration and Framework for Action to tackle hunger and obesity
19 November 2014, Rome – In a major step towards eradicating malnutrition worldwide, over 170 countries today made a number of concrete commitments and adopted a series of recommendations on policies and investments aimed at ensuring that all people have access to healthier and more sustainable diets.

Ministers and senior officials responsible for health, food or agriculture and other aspects of nutrition adopted the Rome Declaration on Nutrition, and a Framework for Action, which set out recommendations for policies and programmes to address nutrition across multiple sectors. The move came at the opening, in Rome, of the Second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2), organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO).

The Rome Declaration on Nutrition enshrines the right of everyone to have access to safe, sufficient and nutritious food, and commits governments to preventing malnutrition in all its forms, including hunger, micronutrient deficiencies and obesity.

The Framework for Action recognizes that governments have the primary role and responsibility for addressing nutrition issues and challenges, in dialogue with a wide range of stakeholders-including civil society, the private sector and affected communities. Building on the Declaration’s commitments, goals and targets, the Framework sets out 60 recommended actions that governments may incorporate into their national nutrition, health, agriculture, education, development and investment plans and consider when negotiating international agreements to achieve better nutrition for all.

Rome Declaration on Nutrition
Second International Conference on Nutrition Rome, 19-21 November 2014
pdf: 6 pages http://www.fao.org/3/a-ml542e.pdf
Excerpts
1. We, Ministers and Representatives of the Members of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO), assembled at the Second International Conference on Nutrition in Rome from 19 to 21 November 2014, jointly organized by FAO and WHO, to address the multiple challenges of malnutrition in all its forms and identify opportunities for tackling them in the next decades…

3. Reaffirming the right of everyone to have access to safe, sufficient, and nutritious food, consistent with the right to adequate food and the fundamental right of everyone to be free from hunger consistent with the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and other relevant United Nations instruments.
4. Acknowledge that malnutrition, in all its forms, including undernutrition, micronutrient deficiencies, overweight and obesity, not only affects people’s health and wellbeing by impacting negatively on human physical and cognitive development, compromising the immune system, increasing susceptibility to communicable and noncommunicable diseases, restricting the attainment of human potential and reducing productivity, but also poses a high burden in the form of negative social and economic consequences to individuals, families, communities and States….

Commitment to action
15. We commit to:
a) eradicate hunger and prevent all forms of malnutrition worldwide, particularly undernourishment, stunting, wasting, underweight and overweight in children under five years of age; and anaemia in women and children among other micronutrient deficiencies; as well as reverse the rising trends in overweight and obesity and reduce the burden of diet-related noncommunicable diseases in all age groups;
b) increase investments for effective interventions and actions to improve people’s diets and nutrition, including in emergency situations;
c) enhance sustainable food systems by developing coherent public policies from production to consumption and across relevant sectors to provide year-round access to food that meets people’s nutrition needs and promote safe and diversified healthy diets;
d) raise the profile of nutrition within relevant national strategies, policies, actions plans and programmes, and align national resources accordingly;
e) improve nutrition by strengthening human and institutional capacities to address all forms of malnutrition through, inter alia, relevant scientific and socio-economic research and development, innovation and transfer of appropriate technologies on mutually agreed terms and conditions;
f) strengthen and facilitate contributions and action by all stakeholders to improve nutrition and promote collaboration within and across countries, including North-South cooperation, as well as South-South and triangular cooperation;
g) develop policies, programmes and initiatives for ensuring healthy diets throughout the life course, starting from the early stages of life to adulthood, including of people with special nutritional needs, before and during pregnancy, in particular during the first 1,000 days, promoting, protecting and supporting exclusive breastfeeding during the first six months and continued breastfeeding until two years of age and beyond with appropriate complementary feeding, healthy eating by families, and at school during childhood, as well as other specialized feeding;
h) empower people and create an enabling environment for making informed choices about food products for healthy dietary practices and appropriate infant and young child feeding practices through improved health and nutrition information and education;
i) implement the commitments of this Declaration through the Framework for Action which will also contribute to ensuring accountability and monitoring progress in global nutrition targets;
j) give due consideration to integrating the vision and commitments of this Declaration into the post-2015 development agenda process including a possible related global goal.

16. We call on FAO and WHO, in collaboration with other United Nations agencies, funds and programmes, as well as other international organizations, to support national governments, upon request, in developing, strengthening and implementing their policies, programmes and plans to address the multiple challenges of malnutrition.

17. We recommend to the United Nations General Assembly to endorse the Rome Declaration on Nutrition, as well as the Framework for Action which provides a set of voluntary policy options and strategies for use by governments, as appropriate, and to consider declaring a Decade of Action on Nutrition from 2016 to 2025 within existing structures and available resources.