The SDGs build on the six global nutrition targets agreed in the World Health Assembly (WHA) Resolution 65.6, which endorsed a Comprehensive Implementation Plan on Maternal, Infant and Young Child Nutrition (MIYCN) in 2012. In 2013, the sixty-sixth session of the WHA agreed to halt the rise in diabetes and obesity as part of the adoption of the comprehensive global monitoring framework and targets for the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases.
The 2014 Rome Declaration and Framework for Action on Nutrition were the result of the Second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2). The Rome Declaration calls for the UN system, including the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) to work more effectively together to support national and regional efforts, and enhance international cooperation and development assistance to accelerate progress in addressing malnutrition.
The Committee on World Food Security (CFS) is an inclusive international and intergovernmental platform for all stakeholders to work together in a coordinated way to ensure food security and nutrition for all. The High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE) was established in 2010 as the science-policy interface of the CFS. The HLPE aims to improve the robustness of policymaking by providing independent evidence-based analysis and advice at the request of the CFS.
In April 2016, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed the UN Decade of Action on Nutrition (2016-2025) to intensify action to end hunger and eradicate malnutrition worldwide, and ensure universal access to healthier and more sustainable diets – for every woman, man and child, everywhere. The Decade of Action on Nutrition is a global roadmap to set, track and achieve Specific, Measureable, Achievable, Relevant, Timebound (SMART) policy commitments to end all forms of malnutrition within the Sustainable Development Goals which make up the Agenda 2030. It is supported by the new Strategic Plan of the UN System Standing Committee on Nutrition (UNSCN), the dedicated platform for open, substantive and constructive dialogue amongst UN agencies working on nutrition.
These commitments and agreed actions by the UN Members States are complemented by the ‘Nutrition for Growth (N4G) Compact’ which mobilised $4 billion at the first Nutrition for Growth Summit in 2013. A major development resulting from the N4G Compact was the establishment of the Global Nutrition Report which records advancements in meeting global nutrition targets, documents progress on commitments made and makes recommendations for actions to accelerate progress.