NUTRITION

Obesity. On December 2, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) published the report “Panorama of Food and Nutritional Security in Latin America and the Caribbean 2020”. The document includes policy recommendations to improve production and physical access to food that promote adequate nutrition in the “lagging” territories of the region. It also sets out the goal of reducing by one third the premature mortality from noncommunicable diseases associated with poor nutrition by 2030. Although the report is not binding, it is expected to serve as a guide for the implementation of public policies in favor of food security in 2021.

According to FAO, in order to address nutritional insecurity, it is important to promote actions focused on agriculture and sustainable value chains that take into account nutrition and School Feeding Programs (SFPs). The document mainly highlights the “lagging territories” as places in Latin America and the Caribbean inhabited by populations with levels of malnutrition that are at least twice the national averages.

It is in these territories that specific and targeted actions should be promoted to reduce the gap in access to healthy alternatives in terms of food. This will be critical, according to FAO, in order to achieve the goal of reducing by 33% the premature mortality associated with overweight and obesity. This goal, which must be met by 2030, must be accompanied by access to healthy food and a wider range of products so that citizens can improve their eating habits.

Next steps

FAO published a document reflecting the territorial inequality of malnutrition in Latin American and Caribbean countries, as well as analyzing the impact of childhood overweight and stunting in children in the region. With a view to achieving a reduction in deaths associated with poor eating habits, the entity proposes to improve value chains by promoting family farming and the supply of fresh products. Likewise, the report also calls on governments to focus their policies and investments on the most disadvantaged areas of the hemisphere, where the highest levels of malnutrition are found. Thus, governments are expected to take into account the proposals included when outlining their policies to address the problem during the next year.