Organizer
World Health Summit and WHO Department of Nutrition and Food Safety
Registration
No prior registration is needed, the event can be watched online. You can find the link of this session (WS27) in the online program of the World Health Summit. The entry link is available in the online program after clicking on the session. Access is possible via PC, tablet, or smartphone. Interactive format through chat. Q&A function, screen and document sharing.
Background
The 2021 United Nations Food Systems Summit called for urgent transformation of our food systems to deliver healthy diets from sustainable food systems for all. Many countries have developed food systems transformation pathways that require changes in public and private investments and in policies regulating food environments. Economic drivers are an essential consideration for action. Private sector activities shape the accessibility, affordability, and desirability of foods and ultimately impact on the burden of malnutrition. Effective use of public finances, such as agricultural subsidies, investments in infrastructure, trade, and research, and public purchases of foods, as well as public policies that control food marketing and food pricing, may leverage change in private sector activities. Conversely, commercial approaches such as political lobbying, policy interference, harmful marketing practices, and the imbalanced production and supply of foods that are not conducive to healthy diets negatively impact on food systems and malnutrition, exacerbating health inequalities. At the same time, food manufacturers are responding to the calls to shift towards healthier and more sustainable diets.
Objectives
- To emphasize the need for food systems transformation to deliver better health and well-being;
- To understand how corporate activities shape the physical and social environments in which people live, work, play, learn and love – both positively and negatively;
- To highlight the commercial determinants of malnutrition and understand what impact this has on countries’ food systems and on public health;
- To discuss effective public health actions to respond to the commercial determinants including financial levers and learn from countries’ experiences;
Chair and moderator
- Francesco Branca – Director, Department of Nutrition and Food Safety, World Health Organization
Speaker
- Tom Frieden – President and CEO, Resolve to Save Lives, United States of America
- Marion Nestle – Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health, Emerita, New York University, United States of America
- Rocco Renaldi – Secretary-General of the International Food and Beverages Alliance
- Geeta Sethi – Advisor and Global Lead for Food Systems, the World Bank, United States of America
- Stefanos Fotiou – Director of the UN Food Systems Coordination Hub, Office of Sustainable Development Goals, Food and Agriculture Organization
- Eva Bell – Director of the Department of Health, Consumer Protection, Nutrition and Product Safety, Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Germany
- Ifereimi Waqainabete – Minister of Health and Medical Sciences, Fiji
- Anders Nordström – Ambassador for Global Health, UN Policy Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sweden