Copenhagen

Ministerial delegations from the 50 active WHO Member States in Europe adopted today a historic new action plan on nutrition and food safety at the fiftieth session of the WHO Regional Committee for Europe in Copenhagen, Denmark.

The action plan will serve as a guide for all countries, according to their various cultures and social, legal and economic environments, to develop policies to reduce the burden of food-related ill health and its concomitant cost. This includes developing a comprehensive, multisectoral approach to food and nutrition issues; national food and nutrition monitoring systems, a relevant scientific knowledge base, advisory and coordinating mechanisms in countries and, finally, national action plans on food and nutrition.

WHO will support country action in 2000/2001 by promoting the European plan, strengthening national capacity for intersectoral action, providing comparative analyses, closely collaborating with the European Commission and French presidency of the European Union, developing guidelines on feeding and nutrition of infants and young children, providing training manuals and tools for primary health care workers and other health professionals, gathering and disseminating scientific evidence for policy-makers, and analysing and publishing data on the burden of food-related ill health. WHO will also work to establish an interagency food and nutrition task force to encourage greater involvement from the public health sector in food policy.

The action plan provides a unique framework within which WHO Member States can begin to address the issue. The framework consists of three interrelated strategies:

• a food safety strategy, highlighting the need to prevent contamination, both chemical and biological, at all stages of the food chain (The potential impact of unsafe food on human health is of great concern, and new food-safety systems that take a "farm to fork perspective" are being developed);
• a nutrition strategy, to ensure optimal health, especially in low-income groups and during critical periods throughout life, such as infancy, childhood, pregnancy and lactation, and old age; and
• a sustainable food-supply (food-security) strategy to ensure enough food of good quality, while helping to stimulate rural economies and to promote the social and environmental aspects of sustainable development.

Episodes of foodborne disease are estimated to affect around 130 million people in the WHO European Region each year. Diarrhoea, a major cause of death and growth retardation in young children, is the most common symptom of foodborne illness. Emerging problems such as new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, resulting from exposure to the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) agent, new concerns such as genetically modified organisms and the resistance of human pathogens to antibiotics are creating an enormous burden on society.

Moreover, low breastfeeding rates and nutrient deficiencies, easily remedied problems, continue to result in malnutrition and disorders such as growth retardation, poor cognitive development, and digestive and respiratory infections in young children. Iodine-deficiency disorders affect around 16% of the European population and are a major cause of mental retardation. Iron-deficiency anaemia affects millions of people and impairs cognitive development in children and increases risks to pregnant women.

The prevalence of obesity is up to 20-30% in adults and shows escalating rates in children, increasing the risk of cardiovascular diseases, certain cancers and diabetes. Obesity is estimated to cost some health services about 7% of their total health care budget. Around one third of cardiovascular disease cases, the leading cause of death in the Region, is related to unbalanced nutrition, and 30-40% of cancer cases could be prevented through better diet. Further, examples throughout the European Region show how poverty and social inequalities affect food intake.

Stressing the importance of the action plan, Dr Aileen Robertson, WHO Regional Adviser for Nutrition, points out that: "The plan was developed after concerns were raised at the WHO Regional Committee in September 1998 by representatives of Member States about the low priority given by WHO to the impact of food and nutrition on health. The action plan and the ministerial conference in 2005 to evaluate the implementation of comprehensive policies will help Member States promote public health nutrition through appropriate food and nutrition policies."

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