29/11/2017 To review the progress on the Bangladesh commitments made at the Second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2), the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of Bangladesh in collaboration with FAO Meeting the Undernutrition Challenge (MUCH) project and the World Health Organization (WHO) organized a Stakeholder Consultation to Follow up on the Progress of Actions Committed in the ICN2 on 29 November 2017.

The consultation was a platform to amplify the food security and nutrition messages and recommendations of the ICN2 and promote its outcomes, reinforcing coherence, synergies and mutual alignment among the responsible stakeholders in Bangladesh. The key goal of ICN2 is to support governments in strengthening and implementing policies, programmes and plans to address the multiple challenges of malnutrition.

Roxana Quader, Additional Secretary for Health and Family Welfare addressed the consultation as the chief guest along with David Doolan, FAO Representative ad interim in Bangladesh and Edwin Ceniza Salvador, WHO Deputy Head in Bangladesh as the special guests. In his opening remarks, Mr Doolan emphasized bigger impact on food security and nutrition of synergies created through multi-stakeholder collaboration than an effort made by a single entity alone.

The consultation was enriched with technical presentations and panel discussions on specific actions and activities taken in line with the ICN2 recommendations by representatives from international and national organizations, including the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Helen Keller International (HIK), SAARC Agriculture Centre (SAC), Bangladesh Institute of Research and Rehabilitation in Diabetes, Endocrine and Metabolic Disorders (BIRDEM), as well asthe ministries concerned with food insecurity and malnutrition, namely the Ministry of Food, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock, Ministry of Health and Familiar Welfare (MoHFW), and the Ministry of Women and Child Affairs.

The consultation also discussed priorities, opportunities and next steps for coordination and collaboration as well as possible follow-up mechanisms to track, share and advise each other to achieve the goals. In response to some key challenges and concerns, such as integration of multi-sectors for nutrition policy implementation, strengthening the Bangladesh National Nutrition Council (BNNC) to coordinate and collaborate nutrition activities, lack of media involvement for advocacy, a rising trend of obesity and non-communicable diseases or so called “double burden of malnutrition, insufficient production and consumption diversification, and inadequate resource allocation for nutrition, Naoki Minamiguchi, MUCH Chief Technical Advisor set forth a course of action to be taken by MUCH in 2018, including support for MoHFW to implement the Second National Plan of Action for Nutrition (NPAN2), implementation of the Second Country Investment Plan (CIP2) to support nutrition-sensitive food systems, and organizing a workshop for media staff and journalists.

Tracking regularly on the progress towards achieving country-specific ICN2 commitments and World Health Assembly (WHA) resolutions by organizing annual consultative meetings, and documenting both nutrition-sensitive and specific activities taken by various stakeholders in a systematic and integrated manner, were amongst the notable recommendations adopted by the stakeholder consultation.

The FAO MUCH project, financially supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the European Union (EU), supports the Government and multi-stakeholders across food security and nutrition sectors in planning and designing nutrition-sensitive policy interventions and food-based approaches for addressing undernutrition challenges.