WHO policies & strategies

The 53rd session of the Regional Committee for Africa in September 2003 adopted a resolution on food safety urging the strengthening of food safety programmes. The resolution commits member countries to develop or update food safety legislation and policies that are based on scientific risk assessment along the entire food chain as well as to integrate food safety matters into education programmes for consumers. Further impetus was provided by the 57th session of the Regional committee for Africa on August 2007 where a Regional Strategy on food safety was endorsed. The Regional Strategy aims to assist countries to define their food safety challenges and design national action plans with specific interventions for effective outcomes. Priority interventions include:

• The formulation and implementation of policies, programmes, legislation and regulations to assure the safety of food from production to consumption. National action plans will be developed that offer mechanisms for intersectoral involvement in food safety interventions;
• Capacity building in foodborne disease surveillance, inspection and in the work of the Codex Alimentarius Commission. As an essential public health objective, capacity will be built for public health laboratories to conduct both laboratory-based and epidemiological surveillance as part of national and regional integrated surveillance systems.
• Health education and promotion systems and procedures will be established to ensure that producers, processors, retailers, consumers and other stakeholders are properly informed on safe food handling as well as food safety emergencies.

The adoption of several global and regional resolutions and strategies have highlighted the will of Member States to mainstream food and nutrition issues in development policies such as the Global Strategy on Infant and Young Child Feeding adopted in May 2002. The strategy aims to revitalize efforts to promote, protect and support appropriate infant and young child feeding. In May 2004, the 57th World Health Assembly endorsed the Global Strategy on diet, physical activity and health which aims to improve public health through healthy eating and physical activity. The African Union Regional Nutrition Strategy 2005-2015 was adopted by the Summit of the Heads of States of the African Union (AU) in January 2006. The strategy seeks to mainstream issues of nutrition security in all strategies for socio-economic development. The priority areas include:

• Monitoring the food and nutrition situation. Monitor and evaluate progress in the attainment of nutrition relevant goals, and keep member states and development partners appraised of the nature, magnitude and extent of the food and nutrition situation.
• Advocacy and communication. Create awareness on the impact of nutrition on development, and stimulate action and meaningful resource allocation to nutrition programmes.
• Policy and institutional framework. Promote the establishment of policy and institutional frameworks for addressing food and nutrition problems in a sustainable manner.
• Strengthening food and nutrition programme implementation. Provide strategic framework and guidance that will ensure that the food security and nutrition targets set by the ICN, WFS and endorsed in the first ARNS are attained.
• Integrating nutrition dimensions onto the development agenda. Facilitate a coordinated response that maximizes on available technical and financial resources for improved nutrition outcome.
• Strengthening institutional and technical capacity for nutrition at all levels (from community to national levels). Ensure that there is a critical mass of well trained and motivated professionals, and communities to plan, implement, monitor and evaluate nutrition programmes.
• Promote community participation and involvement. Ensure that communities are primary actors in addressing their food and nutrition problems.
• Resource mobilization strategy. Mobilize technical and financial resources to support implementation of the ARNS and national plans.