China hosts 14th Asian Congress of Nutrition

There are many policies in China that have existed for some time. This is critical to effectively address issues of unhealthy diets and all forms of malnutrition, said an official from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.

Lynnette Neufeld, Director of the Food and Nutrition Division of FAO, made the remarks during the 14th Asian Congress of Nutrition.

Entrusted by the Federation of Asian Nutrition Societies, the Chinese Nutrition Society hosted the 14th Asian Congress of Nutrition in Chengdu, Sichuan province, from Sept 14 to 17, 2023.

It has been 28 years since the Chinese mainland successfully hosted the 7th Asian Congress of Nutrition in 1995.

With the theme "Feeding the Future by Sustainable Nutrition", this year's congress drew more than 3,000 participants from international organizations such as the International Union of Nutritional Sciences, the World Health Organization (WHO), the FAO, the United Nations Children's Fund, as well as more than 40 Asian academic organizations, domestic and foreign research institutions, universities and other related fields.

Representatives of participating international organizations spoke positively of China's work in the field of nutrition.

Neufeld praised China's policy continuity. In many parts of the world, policies change too frequently as governments change. That continuity is a strength in China, she said.

She gave the example of the existence of data on dietary intake, nutritional status and health continually since 1982. This provides the much-needed basis for policies and programs and allows China to keep track of progress toward improved nutrition and health.

China has a strong capacity and an important track record in research. The research and evidence generated is a gift to China and the world. The guidance that UN agencies develop is only as soon as the evidence exists in the scientific literature. China has been an important contributor to this for many decades, she said.

Juliawati Untoro is the Technical Lead, Nutrition, from the Division of Healthy Environments and Populations, WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific.

She said that WHO would like to applaud China on the successful reduction of the prevalence of undernutrition, which are on track to the targets of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of "ending all forms of malnutrition" particularly on stunting and wasting targets.

These are significant achievements and have been great examples for many countries in the World to learn from China – how the country's leadership and well-designed programs could effectively address undernutrition.

China plays a very crucial role and significant contributor to global progress as China has a huge population so an improvement of China means also a significant contributor to global progress, she said.

The Healthy China 2030 Plan that emphasizes the importance of nutrition and health promotion including addressing obesity and diet-related NCD as emerging public health nutrition challenge of the 21st century.

With the track record of successful achievement of addressing undernutrition we hope to also learn from China's leading roles on the future success of addressing the obesity and diet-related NCD, she said.