Author Archive for: UNSCN Secretariat

Tuesday, July 14, 2020 - 10:00 am to 11:30 am (EDT)

Register here

The 2020 State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report highlights the most recent and authoritative estimates of the extent of hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition around the world. The Report calls for a transformative change in food systems to ensure healthy and affordable diets for all, a sine qua non for eliminating hunger and malnutrition. 

As the 2030 deadline looms, SOFI 2020 gauges whether #ZeroHunger remains achievable by tracking countries' performance and trajectory to offer a tiered assessment of the likelihood of success. 
Join this high-level discussion co-organized by FAO North America and IFPRI with distinguished speakers, including Members of the US Congress and the Directors-General of FAO and IFPRI, on the report’s key findings as well as the potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on global food and nutrition security.

Updates for many countries have made it possible to estimate hunger in the world with greater accuracy this year. In particular, newly accessible data enabled the revision of the entire series of undernourishment estimates for China back to 2000, resulting in a substantial downward shift of the series of the number of undernourished in the world. Nevertheless, the revision confirms the trend reported in past editions: the number of people affected by hunger globally has been slowly on the rise since 2014. The report also shows that the burden of malnutrition in all its forms continues to be a challenge. There has been some progress for child stunting, low birthweight and exclusive breastfeeding, but at a pace that is still too slow. Childhood overweight is not improving and adult obesity is on the rise in all regions.

The report complements the usual assessment of food security and nutrition with projections of what the world may look like in 2030, if trends of the last decade continue. Projections show that the world is not on track to achieve Zero Hunger by 2030 and, despite some progress, most indicators are also not on track to meet global nutrition targets. The food security and nutritional status of the most vulnerable population groups is likely to deteriorate further due to the health and socio economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The report puts a spotlight on diet quality as a critical link between food security and nutrition. Meeting SDG 2 targets will only be possible if people have enough food to eat and if what they are eating is nutritious and affordable. The report also introduces new analysis of the cost and affordability of healthy diets around the world, by region and in different development contexts. It presents valuations of the health and climate-change costs associated with current food consumption patterns, as well as the potential cost savings if food consumption patterns were to shift towards healthy diets that include sustainability considerations. The report then concludes with a discussion of the policies and strategies to transform food systems to ensure affordable healthy diets, as part of the required efforts to end both hunger and all forms of malnutrition.

Read online the full digital report

 See the interactive story

 Read the In Brief

Japan, as the host country of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games 2020, had planned to host the Tokyo Nutrition for Growth Summit 2020 in December 2020 in order to accelerate global effort to tackle malnutrition. However, in light of the continued global spread of COVID-19, the Government has decided to postpone the Tokyo Nutrition for Growth Summit for a year until December 2021.
(Note: The Nutrition for Growth Summit (N4G) is typically hosted by the host country of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.)

At the summit, participants will discuss a wide range of issues related to malnutrition and present ways that the global community can tackle those issues with nutrition partners all over the world.
We have set five thematic areas for discussion at the summit: (1) Health - Making nutrition integral to Universal Health Coverage; (2) Food - Building food systems that promote healthy diets and nutrition; (3) Resilience - Addressing malnutrition effectively in fragile and conflict-affected contexts; (4) Accountability - Promoting data-driven accountability; and (5) Financing - Securing new investments and driving innovation in nutrition financing.

The Government of Japan will provide updates on the status of summit as soon as any new information becomes available.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan

https://nutritionforgrowth.org 

Dear partners and colleagues,

I am writing to you as the ad interim Chair of the UN System Standing Committee on Nutrition (UNSCN) to provide you with an update on the merger of the UN Network for Scaling-Up Nutrition (SUN) and the UN System Standing Committee on Nutrition (UNSCN).

As you probably know, the UNSCN was established by ECOSOC in 1977, while the UN Network for the Scaling up Nutrition (SUN) Movement was established by the Principals of FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP and WHO in 2013, in support of the SUN Movement. While these two entities share obvious complementarities, UNSCN was spearheading efforts on global policy coherence for nutrition and UN coordination, while the UN Network for SUN took the lead in driving country-level efforts on nutrition. Nevertheless, the current global nutrition landscape demands increased efficiencies and more integrated and streamlined efforts. This is especially relevant as we are in the middle of the Decade of Action on Nutrition, in the final decade of the Sustainable Development Goals Agenda for 2030 and in the context of UN Reform.

To harmonize the collective efforts of the UN Network and of UNSCN at global and country levels, we embarked on an ambitious reform process of these two bodies in early 2018. Extensive consultations with the Heads of Nutrition and the Deputy Principals of the five UN Agencies (FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP and WHO) members of the Steering Committee of UN Network/UNSCN have led us to unanimously recommend the merger of these two bodies into a single entity entitled UN Nutrition. In the spirit of the UN Reform agenda, we strongly believe that UN Nutrition, supported by an agile Secretariat, would result in strengthened collaboration, a more unified voice for nutrition in the UN System, and greater impact on the ground.

New Terms of Reference (ToRs) have been developed and have been endorsed by the respective Heads of Agencies. UN Nutrition will be an interagency coordination mechanism for nutrition at global level, and a collaboration platform at country level, bringing together UN agencies to accelerate progress for nutrition objectives and targets at all levels. Through UN Nutrition, UN Agencies are committed to increasing their support to Governments and stakeholders in promoting nutrition actions. UN Nutrition is universal in its coverage and relevant to all countries.

In addition to its core functions, UN Nutrition will serve as the UN Network for the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement. In this capacity, it will contribute to advance the aims of the SUN Movement and support SUN processes at global, regional and country levels. It is also foreseen that, at the request of governments and upon the availability of funding, UN Nutrition could mobilize nutrition facilitation services to support nutrition governance processes at the country level. These services build off the considerable expertise gathered through REACH in 23 countries over the last 12 years and draw upon its diagnostic and analytical tools and resource materials.

The current reporting obligation of the UNSCN to ECOSOC will be maintained by UN Nutrition. The ToRs for UN Nutrition are fully in line with the current ECOSOC mandate but enhance the scope of the new UN Nutrition to strengthen nutrition governance and coordination not only at the global but also at the country level.

Further information on the operational modalities and official launch of the new body will be provided in due course. Until the official launch of UN Nutrition, the current UN Network and UNSCN Secretariats will continue to implement their agreed work plans for 2020 and work under their current names. The new UN Nutrition’s Secretariat will be hosted by the FAO at its headquarters in Rome.

Warm regards,

Amir Abdulla
Ad interim Chair UNSCN/UN Nutrition, Deputy Executive Director of WFP

UN Nutrition communication for partners 

Terms of Reference (ToRs) of UN Nutrition

Thu, Jun 25 2020 8:30 – 20:30 GMT +2

The event will be livestreamed on our website, and Facebook. Join the conversation on Twitter: #NewEra4Food

Register Now

Visit the website for more information.

Wednesday, 24 June, 9:00 am EST. (1:00 pm GMT / 2:00 pm CST / 6:00 am PST)
Please click here to register your place.

EAT and The Rockefeller Foundation invite you to join food systems leaders from across the globe online to dig deeply into dialogue that drives our action forward for change.

The event will discuss:

• Elevated visions and plans to rebuild local, regional and global food systems
• Frontline food system solutions for resilience, nutrition security, equitable food access, and more
• Diverse perspectives – including grassroots, government, business, community & producer voices
• Critical announcements and invitations into action
• Dynamic dialogue to align our path forward