Unhealthy diets are recognized globally as key contributors to morbidity and mortality. As food systems and diets evolve globally, the importance of monitoring what people eat has never been more critical. Yet, there is a lack of consensus on what constitutes healthy diets and how to measure them. In collective recognition of this challenge, the Healthy Diets Monitoring Initiative (HDMI), a partnership among FAO, UNICEF and WHO was established in 2022 with the mission of enabling national and global decision-makers and stakeholders to monitor and achieve healthy diets for people and the planet. We invite all national governments, United Nations agencies and international organizations, implementing partners, donors, civil society organizations, researchers and other key stakeholders (such as those concerned about climate change and food systems) to read our Call to Action and join the Healthy Diets Monitoring Initiative.
This meeting report is an outcome of the WHO-UNICEF Technical Expert Advisory Group on Nutrition Monitoring (TEAM), which was supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The goal of the consultation was to promote increased communication, coordination and collaboration for the purpose of accelerating progress towards identifying or developing a parsimonious set of metrics for global monitoring of healthy diets for individuals over 2 years of age. Eighty-five participants took part in the consultation, representing a wide range of institutions and roles in the data value chain.
Ensuring Global Food Safety: Exploring Global Harmonization, Second Edition, examines the policies and practices of food law which remain top contributors to food waste. This fully revised and updated edition offers a rational and multifaceted approach to the science-based issue of "what is safe for consumption?" and how creating a globally acceptable framework of microbiological, toxicological and nutritional standards can contribute to the alleviation of hunger and food insecurity in the world. Currently, many laws and regulations are so stringent that healthy food is destroyed based on scientifically incorrect information upon which laws and regulations are based. This book illuminates these issues, offering guidelines for moving toward a scientifically sound approach to food safety regulation that can also improve food security without putting consumers at risk. - Presents the progress and current status of regulatory harmonization for food standards - Provides a science-based foundation for global regulatory consensus - Approaches challenges from a risk-benefit approach, also including safety assurance - Includes global perspectives from governmental, academic and industry experts
"The Handbook on health inequality monitoring: with a special focus on low- and middle-income countries is a resource that enables countries to do just that. It presents a comprehensive yet clear overview of health inequality monitoring in a user-friendly manner. The handbook succeeds in giving those involved in health inequality monitoring an appreciation of the complexities of the process, as well as building the practical knowledge and skills for systematic monitoring of health inequalities in low- and middle-income countries. The use of the handbook will enable countries to better monitor and evaluate their progress and performance with a high degree of accountability and transparency, and allow them to use the results to formulate evidenced-based policies, programmes and practices to tackle inequalities in an effective manner."--Publisher's description.
Considering the detrimental environmental impact of current food systems, and the concerns raised about their sustainability, there is an urgent need to promote diets that are healthy and have low environmental impacts. These diets also need to be socio-culturally acceptable and economically accessible for all. Acknowledging the existence of diverging views on the concepts of sustainable diets and healthy diets, countries have requested guidance from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) on what constitutes sustainable healthy diets. These guiding principles take a holistic approach to diets; they consider international nutrition recommendations; the environmental cost of food production and consumption; and the adaptability to local social, cultural and economic contexts. This publication aims to support the efforts of countries as they work to transform food systems to deliver on sustainable healthy diets, contributing to the achievement of the SDGs at country level, especially Goals 1 (No Poverty), 2 (Zero Hunger), 3 (Good Health and Well-Being), 4 (Quality Education), 5 (Gender Equality) and 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production) and 13 (Climate Action).
Taking into account toxicity levels at normal consumption levels, intake per kg bodyweight and other acknowledged considerations, each chapter in this book will be based on one or more proven examples. It is intended to provide specific examples and potential improvements to the safety of the world's food supply, while also increasing the amount of food available to those in undernourished countries. This book is designed to to provide science-based tools for improving legislation and regulation. - Reduce amount of food destroyed due to difference in regulations between nations - Positively impact the time-to-market of new food products by recognizing benefit of "one rule that applies to all" - Use the comparison of regulations and resulting consequences to make appropriate, fully-informed decisions - Employ proven science to obtain global consensus for regulations - Understand how to harmonize test protocols and analytical methods for accurate measurement and evaluation - Take advantage of using a risk/benefit based approach rather than risk/avoidance to maximize regulatory decisions
Physical activity has far-reaching benefits for physical, mental, emotional, and social health and well-being for all segments of the population. Despite these documented health benefits and previous efforts to promote physical activity in the U.S. population, most Americans do not meet current public health guidelines for physical activity. Surveillance in public health is the ongoing systematic collection, analysis, and interpretation of outcome-specific data, which can then be used for planning, implementation and evaluation of public health practice. Surveillance of physical activity is a core public health function that is necessary for monitoring population engagement in physical activity, including participation in physical activity initiatives. Surveillance activities are guided by standard protocols and are used to establish baseline data and to track implementation and evaluation of interventions, programs, and policies that aim to increase physical activity. However, physical activity is challenging to assess because it is a complex and multidimensional behavior that varies by type, intensity, setting, motives, and environmental and social influences. The lack of surveillance systems to assess both physical activity behaviors (including walking) and physical activity environments (such as the walkability of communities) is a critical gap. Implementing Strategies to Enhance Public Health Surveillance of Physical Activity in the United States develops strategies that support the implementation of recommended actions to improve national physical activity surveillance. This report also examines and builds upon existing recommended actions.
Ensuring the safety of food and the quality and safety of medicines in a country is an important role of government, made more complicated by global manufacturing and international trade. By recent estimates, unsafe food kills over 400,000 people a year, a third of them children under 5, mostly in low- and middle-income countries; every year poor quality medicines cause about 70,000 excess deaths from childhood pneumonia and roughly 8,500 to 20,000 malaria deaths in sub-Saharan Africa alone. The Federal Drug Administration (FDA) Office of Global Policy and Strategy is charged with improving capacity of the agency's foreign counterpart offices and increasing understanding of the importance of regulatory systems for public health, development, and trade. At the request of the FDA, this study sets out a strategy to support good quality, wholesome food and safe, effective medical products around the world. Its goal is to build on the momentum for strengthening regulatory systems and to set a course for sustainability and continued progress. The 2012 report Ensuring Safe Food and Medical Products Through Stronger Regulatory Systems Abroad outlined strategies to secure international supply chains, emphasized capacity building and support for surveillance in low- and middle-income countries, and explored ways to facilitate work sharing among food and medical product regulatory agencies. This new study assess progress made and the current regulatory landscape.
Food safety has been a global concern for many years. While global sourcing of foods and ingredients provides great opportunity for variety and diversity of cultural products, there are significant risks. Programs that regulate food safety and quality in countries around the world vary in their scope and effectiveness, with many being underfunded. Rapidly developing countries may lack the expertise, laboratory resources for testing, and established inspection programs to adequately promote the safety of foods. Rather, these countries may be more focused on providing enough food for their citizens. Lack of documentation or traceability in the exporting country can further exacerbate the situation. Of course, safety problems in food imported from more developed countries also occur, and the source of food borne disease outbreaks are found regularly within the United States. Improving Import Food Safety gathers together vital information on the food safety programs of national governments, the food industry, and the testing industry. Chapters have been contributed by authors from the United States, Latin America, Europe, and Asia. Readers will learn about a variety of regulatory approaches to food safety at the federal and state levels in the United States, as well as in selected countries and within the food industry itself. They will also gain insights into the nature and source of safety problems, in addition to approaches to food safety around the world. The book is divided into three sections: Highlighting Key Issues: authors illustrate the millions of permutations for the origin of ingredients, discussing the difficulty if policing imports, providing a unique perspective on the economic situation in China and insight into development of support for small farm producers in Mexico. Legal and Regulatory Issues/Structures in the USA and Abroad: describes the legal and regulatory system in the European Union, the United States, and China, plus a chapter addressing global approaches to fraud. Potential Strategies to Improve Import Safety: presents strategies to deal with what are ultimately global issues, but on multiple levels. Perspectives are provided by authors from Industry, and industry trade association, academia, and a recently semi-retired, global ambassador or food safety. Readers will find this book noteworthy because of the diverse topics and perspectives offered on the challenges of keeping food safe in a global economy. Authors come from a variety of backgrounds, and each has provided a unique perspective on this critical topic. The volume is aimed at importers and exporters of food and ingredients; food microbiologists, food safety and QC/QA personnel; regulatory and legal personnel in food manufacturing companies; food policy makers and regulatory officials and facility and graduate students in food science.
