Description

NCD Alliance, NCD Child, The George Institute for Global Health, World Cancer Research Fund International, World Heart Federation and World Obesity Federation submitted a joint response to WHO’s draft Guideline on policies to protect children from the harmful impact of food marketing.

In our joint submission:

1. We welcomed the recognition by WHO that progress to restrict marketing of unhealthy food products has been slow, and that Member States may benefit from further guidance to assist with establishing or strengthening policies to protect children from the harmful impact of food marketing.
2. We provided comments on the overall clarity of the Guideline, some context and setting specific issues, and additional considerations and implications for adaptation and implementation. Our general comments were that the document raises important points that are unfortunately diluted within the current draft due to its length and repetition of content, and that the document needs to be clearer on the main policy recommendation and added value it brings to the current WHO knowledge base and the recommendations for countries. More specifically, we asked that the Guideline’s main policy recommendation also addresses how the power of marketing can be restricted, and that the document defines children and specifies that its primary audience is Member States, among other key recommendations.

Read the full joint submission here.