Committee on World Food Security

CFS Voluntary Guidelines on Food Systems and Nutrition – Promoting healthy diets through sustainable food systems

Hunger and malnutrition in all its forms remain a global challenge. The Committee on World Food Security (CFS) formally adopted “Voluntary Guidelines on Food Systems and Nutrition” to support countries to eradicate hunger and malnutrition in all its forms by utilizing a food systems lens. Informed by the scientific evidence of the CFS High Level Panel of Experts, the Guidelines are concrete inter-governmental and multi-stakeholder negotiated policy tool for use by governments, UN agencies, civil society, private sector, financial institutions and other development actors to develop appropriate policies, responsible investments and institutional arrangements to address the causes of hunger and malnutrition in all its forms, from a food systems perspective.

This event sought to raise awareness about the Voluntary Guidelines, its substantive content with particular attention to the health dimension and priority areas for WHO staff and programmes. The discussion also explored how best to promote utilization of the Guidelines at regional, country, and local levels, the role of WHO and synergies with other agencies and coordination mechanisms.

Watch the recording here:

Concept note

Format of the session: A moderated panel discussion, followed by a Q&A session with the audience

Date and time: 8 June 2021, 3pm to 4pm CET

Moderator: Waiganjo Njoroge, CFS Communications Lead

Opening remarks: Naoko Yamamoto, Chairperson, UN Nutrition

Panelists:

• Chris Hegadorn, Secretary, Committee on World Food Security (CFS) - Presentation
• Francesco Branca, Director, Department of Nutrition and Food Safety, WHO
• Gerda Verburg, Coordinator, Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement
• Ferew Lemma Feyissa, Senior Advisor, Office of the State Minister, Federal Ministry of Health of Ethiopia and SUN Government Focal Point
• Mary Mpereh, Chief Policy Analyst, SUN Technical Focal Point, Lead convener, Food Systems Summit Dialogues

More information on the WHO Health Talks can be found here.