On the eve of the Rio Olympics, the Government of Brazil held a much-anticipated Nutrition for Growth event, the together with the support of the United Kingdom and Japan.

Speakers at the event included representatives of the Governments of Brazil, Japan and United Kingdom, reflecting on efforts and progress within their own countries commitments and policies since the last Nutrition for Growth Summit in 2013. Athletes, the Director General of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the World Food Program also spoke at the event.

In her opening address, WHO Director General, Dr Margaret Chan praised Brazil's leadership in addressing malnutrition, but highlighted the concerning prevalence of obesity, and challenged governments to look at issues in food systems as a key drivers of malnutrition problems.

"... the global nutrition situation is characterized by extremes, and we need policies capable of addressing these extremes.

... we need to take a hard look at the food systems that are propelling these extremes.

The dominant international food system relies on the industrialized production and globalized marketing and distribution of food in a system largely operated by a small number of multinational corporations.

 

It makes healthy fresh produce available to well-off consumers year round. But this system, with its global reach, has also made unhealthy highly processed foods the new world staple." Dr Margaret Chan, World Health Organization

During his speech, the representative of Brazil's National Health Council, Ronald Ferreira dos Santos, questioned the prominence of processed food and drink industry Olympics sponsorship, echoed widely by international health advocates in the lead up to and throughout the games to date.

“O presidente do Conselho Nacional de Saúde (CNS), Ronald Ferreira dos Santos, ressaltou que é uma contradição as Olimpíadas serem patrocinadas por empresas do setor alimentício que estimulam o consumo de alimentos nocivos à saúde. Entre as corporações que financiam os Jogos, estão a Coca-Cola e o McDonald’s” - Ronald Ferreira dos Santos, Conselho Nacional de Saúde (CNS)

It was hoped that leaders at the meeting might announce a future pledging moment for governments to make strong, bold, SMART commitments to ending malnutrition in all its forms as part of the Decade of Action on Nutrition, declared by WHO earlier this year. In the absence of such an announcement, World Vision's Vice President for Health and Nutrition, Mesfin Teklu, acknowledged Brazil's leadership, but has refered to the meeting as a missed opportunity, writing in a blog for World Vision International:

"While we were pleased that the long-awaited Nutrition for Growth event was held in Rio on August 4th and take note of the leadership of the Brazilian Government in hosting this, we were disappointed that that there was no announcement of a future pledging moment for new and improved commitments to ensure food security and nutrition". Mesfin Teklu, World Vision International

"ICAN and its partner organizations are calling on the next hosts of the 2017 G-7 summit to seize the opportunity to lead the next Nutrition for Growth pledging moment, inviting Heads of State from around the world to make ambitious policy and financial commitments to scale up efforts to end malnutrition in all its forms by 2030." 

In advance of the meeting, the NCD alliance ACT+ Brazil coordinated the Portuguese translation of the global NCD Alliance / WCRF International nutrition advocacy resource, the recently published SMART nutrition brief "Ambitious SMART commitments to address NCDs, overweight and obesity: Make the Decade of Action for Nutrition count for all forms of malnutrition". The brief, which illustrates how recommendations can be translated into concrete, ambitious policy commitments which are SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound, can be downloaded in English, Spanish, French and Portuegese, with the associated infographic available in English and Portuguese.