Undernutrition is a violation of the human right to food and continues to generate social and health inequalities. Five UN agencies have launched a coalition calling for action to provide healthy and affordable diets for all from sustainable food systems.
According to United Nations estimates, unhealthy diets are the cause of 11 million deaths every year. In addition, unhealthy diets lead to chronic diseases that cause suffering and weigh heavily on the budgets of all countries.
To address this reality, five UN agencies – World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), World Food Program (WFP), United Nations Agriculture (FAO) and United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) – have launched a coalition calling for action to provide healthy and affordable diets for all from sustainable food systems. For UN agencies, health, nutrition and environmental sustainability must be at the heart of the transformation of food systems. These must be produced and distributed in a way that guarantees decent work and protects the planet: soil, water and biodiversity. This requires consistent and imminent action in policy, practice, data availability and resource allocation.
As for African countries, specialized UN agencies publish reports each year on malnutrition, alerting the case of the millions of African children who suffer from severe and moderate wasting.