Decisions made at the World Health Assembly help advance the nutrition agenda

World Health Assembly delegates at the technical briefing “Survive, thrive, transform: implementing the Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health”, 25 May 2015. Photo credit: WHO/L. Cipriani

From 23 to 26 May 2016, the 69th World Health Assembly was held in Geneva, Switzerland. Following a welcome address by World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General, Margaret Chan, around 3,900 delegates from WHO’s 194 Member States discussed a wide range of Agenda Items. Core topics which impact the efforts of members of the Movement included: interaction with business, food for infants and young children and how to tackle non-communicable diseases.

Framework of Engagement with Non-State Actors (Agenda Item 11.3)

After more than 2 years of intergovernmental negotiations, the World Health Assembly has adopted the WHO Framework of Engagement with Non-State Actors (FENSA). FENSA represents a major step in WHO’s governance reform. It provides the Organization with comprehensive policies and procedures on engaging with nongovernmental organizations, private sector entities, philanthropic foundations and academic institutions. Learn more ►

Maternal, infant and young child nutrition (Agenda Item 12.1)

The 69th WHA has approved two resolutions on the nutrition Agenda Item 12.1 Maternal, infant and young child nutrition (document A69/7).

• Decade of Action on Nutrition (Resolution A69 A CONF5 Rev1 – will become resolution WHA69.8). This resolution calls on Member States to develop policies and financial commitments that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound (SMART) in respect of the Second International Conference on Nutrition outcomes. This resolution was proposed by the delegates of Chad, Ecuador, Haiti, New Zealand, Panama and Peru.
• Ending inappropriate promotion of foods for infants and young children (A69 A CONF7 Rev1- which will become resolution WHA69.9). This resolution welcomes with appreciation the WHO guidance on ending the inappropriate promotion of foods for infants and young children. The guidance clarifies that, in order to protect, promote and support breastfeeding, the marketing of “follow-up formula” and “growing-up milks”—targeted for consumption by babies aged 6 months to 3 years—should be regulated in just the same manner as infant formula for 0 to 6-month-olds is. This recommendation is in line with the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes adopted by the World Health Assembly in 1981. This resolution was proposed by delegations of Ecuador, Panama, Mexico, Thailand, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Norway, Niger, Chad, Mozambique, Sudan and Switzerland. Learn more ►

Report of the Commission on Ending Childhood Obesity (Agenda Item 12.2)

Member States welcomed the 6 recommendations detailed in the report of the Commission on Ending Childhood Obesity (document A69/8) which sets out the approaches and combinations of interventions that are likely to be most effective in tackling childhood and adolescent obesity in different contexts around the world. Learn more ►

Prevention and Control of noncommunicable diseases (Agenda Item 12.4)

A resolution was adopted covering processes to update Appendix 3 of the Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of NCDs 2013-2020 (document A69/10) and approaches to measure contributions from non-State actors towards NCD targets. In preparation for the third UN High-level Meeting on NCDs in 2018, WHO will update a set of very cost-effective and affordable NCD interventions that can be implemented by all Member States, as well as develop an approach to register and publish contributions of the private sector to achieving global NCD targets. Learn more ►

Operational plan to take forward the Global Strategy on Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health (Agenda Item 13.3)

There was overwhelming support for the Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health (2016-2030) (document A69/16) and its resolution seeking country commitments for implementation and monitoring. The resolution calls on the WHO Secretariat to provide technical support to Member States in updating and implementing their national plans and to report regularly to the World Health Assembly on progress towards women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health. It also requests the Secretariat to continue to collaborate with other UN agencies and partners to advocate and leverage assistance. Learn more ►

Side events

In addition to the Accelerating National Progress on Tackling child Obesity and Child Undernutrition in a Sustainable Way side-event held with Chef and Campaigner Jamie Oliver and Former Prime Minister of Namibia Nahas Angula, other nutrition related side-events took place including:

• On Monday 23 May (evening): Accelerating national progress on tackling child obesity and child undernutrition in a sustainable way (organized by Finland with Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Kenya, Mexico, the Netherlands, Nigeria, UK, USA and Zambia)
• On Tuesday 24 May (evening): Why breastfeeding matters for women and children in all countries and how breastfeeding practices can be improved at scale: New evidence in 2016. (hosted by WHO, UNICEF, and HKI)
• On Thursday 26 May (evening): Ending childhood obesity: securing the future for our children (organized by Ghana with Malaysia and Mexico)

All background documents, agenda, statements by NGOs can be found on the WHA69 website http://apps.who.int/gb/e/e_wha69.html.

Read the closing statement by Director-General, Margaret Chan English

Read the closing Press Release English