The WHO encourages governments to promote healthy food in public facilities

Public institutions, such as schools, child care centers, nursing homes, hospitals and correctional facilities, and all other public institution canteens, can play a key role in ensuring a healthy food supply and helping prevent the 8 million annual deaths currently caused by unhealthy diets. .

New TKO Action framework for the development and implementation of public policies for the procurement of food and services for healthy eating aims to increase the availability of healthy food by setting nutritional criteria for food served and sold in public environments. The action framework also aims to reduce preventable diseases and deaths due to high consumption of sodium and salt, sugars and fats, especially trans fats, and inadequate consumption of whole grains, legumes, vegetables and fruits.

“Public places that serve the entire community, including our most vulnerable population, must be places where healthy eating is not discouraged,” said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “Now is the time for governments to set an example to ensure that food served or sold in public environments contributes to a healthy diet and saves lives. Public funds should not be spent on foods that contribute to an unhealthy diet. ”

Consuming a healthy diet from birth to the last days of life is vital to preventing all forms of malnutrition, as well as diabetes, cancer and other non-communicable diseases (NCDs). The new framework serves as a tool for governments to develop, implement, monitor and evaluate public procurement policies for food and services that are in line with the fundamental principles of healthy eating as outlined in existing WHO recommendations:

• limit sodium intake and ensure that salt is iodinated;
• limit the intake of free sugars;
• shift of fat consumption from saturated to unsaturated fats;
• eliminate industrially produced trans fats;
• increase consumption of whole grains, vegetables, fruits, nuts and legumes; and
• ensure the availability of free, safe drinking water.

Healthy public procurement and food service policies set nutritional criteria for food served and sold in public conditions. These policies increase the availability of foods that promote a healthy diet and / or limit or prohibit the availability of foods that contribute to an unhealthy diet. Policies may cover the entire process of purchasing, providing, distributing, preparing, serving, and selling food to ensure that each step meets healthy criteria.

Numerous countries around the world have already taken steps to promote healthy eating in public institutions. In Brazil, the National School Feeding Program requires 30% of the budget to purchase food from family farms, and requires that menus be based on fresh or minimally processed food based on regional sustainability, seasonality, and agricultural diversity. To improve the health of children, the Republic of Korea has established Green Food Zones that regulate available food within 200 meters of the school. In these zones, companies may not sell foods that fall above the set threshold for calories per meal, total sugars, and saturated fats.

“Governments around the world are responsible for setting an example by serving and selling food that improves the health of their people,” said Dr. Tom Frieden, president and CEO of Resolve to Save Lives, a vital strategies initiative. “This framework of action is an opportunity to make healthy food selection largely a default choice.”

It’s September UN Food Systems Summit 2021 will launch new bold actions to transform the way the world produces and consumes food, making progress on all 17 sustainable development goals. The WHO is the UN anchor agency for Action Line 2, which aims to move to sustainable consumption patterns and facilitate a diet towards more nutritious food that requires fewer resources to produce and transport.

World governments have already made multiple commitments to stop all forms of malnutrition, including obesity and diet-related NCDs, such as hypertension, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer. This Action Framework helps to achieve the goals that belong to the goals of sustainable development – stopping malnutrition (SDG 2), promoting health and well-being (SDG 3) and promoting sustainable public procurement practices (SDG 12) by 2030.

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About the World Health Organization

The World Health Organization provides global leadership in public health within the United Nations system. Founded in 1948, the WHO works with 194 member states, in six regions and from 149 offices, to promote health, keep the world safe and serve the vulnerable. Our goal for the period 2019-2023 is to ensure that one billion more people have universal health insurance, to protect one billion more people from emergencies and to provide further billions of people with better health and well-being.

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About rescuing to save lives

Solve to Save Lives is an initiative of the global health organization Vital Strategies aimed at preventing 100 million deaths from heart disease and protecting the world from epidemics. It is led by Dr. Tom Frieden, former director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. To learn more visit: https://www.resolvetosavelives.org or Twitter @ResolveTSL

About vital strategies

Vital Strategies is a global health organization that believes that every person should be protected by a strong public health system. We work with governments and civil society in 73 countries to design and implement evidence-based strategies that address their most pressing public health issues. Our goal is to see governments adopt promising large-scale interventions as soon as possible.