UNSCN Brief “Non-communicable diseases, diets and nutrition”

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are now the leading cause of mortality worldwide; they are responsible for 70 per cent of global deaths; equivalent to 40 million people. The health and economic repercussions of this trend are enormous. Millions of people will experience premature mortality or compromised quality of life, countries and regions will experience reduced productivity and arrested economic growth.

Increased prevalence of obesity, increased consumption of poor quality diets, and pervasive undernutrition are contributing to this epidemic. Today, every country in the world bears a combined burden of malnutrition and NCDs. No country is immune.

This brief provides short overviews on various technical and policy aspects of the NCDs nutrition nexus, including a condensed chronology of recent political processes in the areas of nutrition and NCDs, a summary of how nutrition, diet and NCDs are linked, and an overview of key intervention, programme and policy actions for the way forward.

Today, nearly one in three people suffers from at least one form of malnutrition. By 2025, projections indicate the number will be one in two, unless current trends are halted or reversed. Moreover, diet-related NCDs are now associated with more premature deaths among adults worldwide than any other risk factor.

As such, UN human rights treaty bodies and special rapporteurs must be urged to focus on the links between NCDs and nutrition when reviewing State obligations to health, nutrition and food security, especially with respect to emphasizing the potential for synergistic double-duty actions, and the urgent need to reform food systems and the food environments they create.

The Third UN High-level Meeting on NCDs will be convened in 2018, back to back with the UNGA meeting in September. Ahead of this, the first report on the implementation of the Nutrition Decade is submitted, and the WHO report on progress made toward implementation of the NCDs action plan are submitted to the UNGA. The timing of these reports and the reviews by the UNGA of both nutrition and NCDs offer a perfect opportunity to develop comprehensive and coherent policies tackling both malnutrition and diet related NCD’s in a coherent way. Doing so is a precondition to significant progress in these closely integrated areas.

Read the report: ENGLISH