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Evaluation of FAO’s contributions to Sustainable Development Goal 2

Nutrition education

Year of publication 2021

Place of publication Rome, Italy ;

Pages 14 p.

Author FAO

Publisher FAO ;

Product type Brochure, flyer, fact-sheet

Edition 1

Synopsis (short abstract) Unhealthy diets remain one of the main contributors to the global burden of malnutrition and disease. According to the World Health Organization Global Nutrition Report 2018, poor feeding of infants and young children remains a key cause of infant malnutrition. Thus, actions to improve diet, including holistic nutrition education, are key to achieving SDG 2 target 2.2 on ending all forms of malnutrition. FAO has been working for many years to support countries in promoting healthy diets through school, community and professional nutrition education. Its nutrition education approach uses diverse strategies to foster lifelong healthy eating habits and promote environments that support good nutrition and healthful food choices. This study focuses on those initiatives with the potential to be upscaled and to make a significant contribution to the achievement of SDG 2 targets. It assesses achievements linked to SDG 2, ties to the key principles of the 2030 Agenda, lessons learned and the factors behind successes and challenges to implementation, replication and upscaling. The study found human and financial resources to be among the main constraints on FAO’s nutrition work. While nutrition education is crosscutting and often included in projects, it receives few resources and has low visibility. Most interventions are small-scale pilots that depend on rare regular budget allocations. The study recommends that nutrition education be included as part of other measures to promote healthy food environments and that it be integrated into the curriculums of agricultural and rural development training institutions to bolster human capacity to promote nutrition-sensitive agriculture and food systems and healthy diets.

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FAO. 2021. Evaluation of FAO's contribution to Sustainable Development Goal 2 - Nutrition education. Rome.

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