Archive for month: November, 2020

25, 26, 27, 30 November and 1, 3 December 2020

The 3rd Global Conference of the Sustainable Food Systems Programme will be held virtually.

The purpose of this 3rd global conference is to to provide substantial input to the UN Food Systems Summit that is tentatively scheduled for the third quarter of 2021, building on the achievements of the SFS Programme’s membership during the first five years of implementation as well as the outcomes of the Programme’s previous two global conferences.

Previous editions of the conference harnessed consensus on a range of priority areas for action. The 1st global conference in South Africa concluded with the Pretoria Resolution, while the 2nd global conference in Costa Rica finalized with the San José Call to Action.

Objectives and outcomes

Following the San José Call to Action of the SFS Programme’s 2nd conference, the objectives of this meeting are:

• To strengthen the common vision that suggests that only through inclusive multi-stakeholder collaboration will we be able to achieve the profound transformation, through a set of key actions and implementation mechanisms, that our food systems require;
• To provide a platform for structured discussion around the science underlying global efforts to characterize and assess progress towards more sustainable food systems;
• and, overall, to raise the political importance of sustainable food systems among public and private sector leaders.

The expected outcomes of the conference are:

• To provide science-based recommendations on the range of actions that can advance food systems transformation within the priority areas identified in the outcome of the 2nd global conference, in contribution to the Action Tracks of the Food Systems Summit 2021; and
• To provide recommendations that can help define the implementation mechanisms (including accountability mechanisms) for such recommended actions.

Friday 20 November from 15:00 – 16:30 CET
Register here

Millions of children worldwide are eating too much unhealthy food and not getting enough physical activity, leading to a rapid rise in childhood overweight and obesity. Once considered a problem limited to high-income countries, middle income countries now account for over three quarters of all children under 5 affected by overweight. Called “a ticking time bomb” by the World Bank, 1 in 5 children between 5 to 19 years of age is affected by overweight, and the issue is impacting a broader cross-section of the population including urban, rural and poor communities, often co-existing with various forms of undernutrition. Overweight and obesity disadvantage children, can result in stigma and can lead to a lifetime of diseases, including increased risks for some of the world’s biggest killers such as cancer, diabetes and heart disease. For countries this translates into a population that is less healthy and less productive, and results in health systems overburdened with soaring costs for what are largely preventable diseases.

The current COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the very real health risks that people living with obesity can face, and – wherever possible – the best option is early prevention, in particular optimal breastfeeding and complementary feeding practices. In addition, the obesogenic environments that are driving the rapid rise in overweight and obesity are increasingly recognized as a threat to children’s rights, which adds urgency to the need for action. 

To mark the occasion of World Children’s Day, UNICEF and WHO will join forces to restate the global importance of childhood overweight prevention and efforts to create enabling environments that promote and protect healthy weight in childhood. Such environments ensure access to affordable nutritious foods and healthy diets and promote physical activity.

The webinar will showcase examples of the common challenges many countries, caregivers and children across the world are facing in relation to childhood overweight and obesity; at the same time it will offer a platform to share some of the lessons learned in overcoming these challenges through progressive policies and double duty interventions that address both undernutrition and overweight simultaneously. Against the difficult backdrop of the COVID-19 response, speakers will be encouraged to reflect on whether we need to reimagine the response to childhood overweight and obesity moving forward.