Global forum on food security and nutrition

Sumantra Ray, NNEdPro Global Centre for Nutrition and Health in Cambridge, United Kingdom

On behalf of the NNEdPro Global Centre for Nutrition and Health in Cambridge, we are delighted to submit our response to this cardinal and timely initiative. We particularly hold the fort in regard to Nutrition Education of healthcare and public health professionals as a self-sustaining strategy to promulgating adequate preventative as well as therapeutic aspects of Nutrition across at-risk populations, globally. We would be happy to have further dialogue and form partnerships with both the secretariat as well as other relevant stakeholders.

Professor S Ray, NNEdPro Chair and Executive Director & Dr G Jones, Head of Core Support for the NNEdPro Group

The Need for Nutrition Education/Innovation Programme (NNEdPro) and its Global Centre for Nutrition and Health in Cambridge, welcomes the opportunity to comment on the first draft of the ‘FAO/WHO Work Programme of the UN Decade of Action on Nutrition, 2016-2025’.

Q1. Does the work programme present a compelling vision for enabling strategic interaction and mutual support across existing initiatives, platforms, forums and programmes, given the stipulation of Res 70/259 that the Decade should be organized with existing institutions and available resources? 

As a global organisation concerned with malnutrition at all levels we fully support a collective vision that is inclusive of all, irrespective of life stage, geographic location or economic standing. The vision should underpin the work programme and its inclusion of activities addressing the complex and multi-factorial issues of over and under nutrition, food security, availability, sustainability, safety and access to knowledge and training.

The draft work programme identifies the use of existing institutions and resources but must also ensure that it is open to utilising the skills and assets of emerging stakeholders as well as institutions with established FAO/WHO relationships. 

To achieve the commitments made at ICN2, in the 2025 Global Nutrition and diet-related NCD targets and in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development it is essential activities are inclusive, accountable and transparent with data collection and evaluation undertaken in agreement with open data principles.

Q2.What are your general comments to help strengthen the presented elements of the first draft work programme of the UN Decade of Action on Nutrition? 

The Nutrition Decade aim to ‘be for all’ is commendable, as malnutrition is a global issue impacting on health and the environment, as well as the economy at both national and global level. However research has shown there are currently significant gaps in the required nutrition knowledge and skills to deliver change, particularly in countries with the greatest need. This is an area that needs to be developed, as without a trained and competent workforce nutrition interventions will be limited in their impact and effectiveness. Whilst it is the focus of Action Area 3, the need for nutrition education, knowledge and training actually underpins all the Action Areas. We believe that the work programme would be strengthened by providing further clarity that nutrition education, training and skill development is the foundation for all action, so as to underpin the importance to member states investing in this fundamental requirement. In addition we believe the draft work programme would be strengthened by the explicit mention of the role of implementation science. The funding, application and capacity for implementation science could, for example, be highlighted in Table 1. Furthermore, it is important for such Nutrition Education to be targeted towards a critical mass of healthcare and public health professionals and not just simply the population at large. The benefit of targeting such a group would be that statutory regulated professionals have a responsibility to consistently discharge safe, effective and evidence-informed advice, taking into account individualised requirements and circumstances. Internalising adequate Nutrition knowledge and skills within the healthcare and public health workforce is therefore a self-sustaining strategy.

Q3.Do you feel you can contribute to the success of the Nutrition Decade or align yourself with the proposed range of action areas? 

NNEdPro is a global organisation with expertise in researching, developing and delivering nutrition education and skill development. Our multi-country network is ideally placed to support the Nutrition Decade in supporting the development of measurable markers for the nutrition knowledge and skill level of those delivering change and activities at a global, national and local level. Through our partnership with GODAN (Global Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition) we can also support the implementation requirements for open data collection and reporting.

Q4.How could this draft work programme be improved to promote collective action to achieve the transformational change called for by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the ICN2 outcomes? What is missing? 

To promote collective action the draft work programme would be improved by the inclusion of more specificity in respect to timelines, activities, responsibilities and measurable outcomes. This could be achieved by providing more detail in Table 2 following dialogue with member states and stakeholders.

Clearer measures of capacity, activities and outcomes would be beneficial for transparently assessing impact and success. NNEdPro would request in particular the inclusion of measures for nutrition education provision (particularly to the healthcare and public health workforce) and for the measurement of the level of nutrition knowledge and skill of those delivering interventions and initiatives ‘on the ground’. This would enable Member States to clearly determine and measure investment in this area and enable global comparisons and accountability.

Q5. Do you have specific comments on the section on accountability and shared learning? 

NNEdPro supports transparent reporting and the principles of open data. The use of a publicly-accessible repository would enable nutrition researchers to explore this rich dataset for further research and investigations to further this area of knowledge. We would also seek to utilise our Annual International Summit in Medical Nutrition Education and Research for knowledge exchange from the UN Decade of Actions in Nutrition, with a dynamic international cross-section of healthcare professionals in particular.