Dr. Azucena M. Dayanghirang, Assistant Secretary and Executive Director, National Nutrition Council, Department of Health, Philippines; Dr H. Moeldoko, Chief of Staff to the President of Indonesia and Special Advisor on food security-related issues for the President; Brig. Gen. Md. Zobaidur Rahman, Chief Medical Officer, Dhaka North City Corporation, Bangladesh; Dr Jong-Jin Kim, FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific; Dr John Ayelieff, Regional Director, WFP Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific; Debora Comini, Regional Director, UNICEF, East Asia and Pacific Regional Office; partners, colleagues and friends,
My sincere gratitude for your insightful discussions and for the opportunity to address you today.
Ending hunger, achieving food security, and improving nutrition – this is our mission, embedded in Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2 – ‘Zero Hunger’ – and enshrined in SDG 3, ‘Good Health and Well-being’.
It is a mission that is central to the South-East Asia Region’s Flagship Priorities on preventing and controlling noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), and on accelerating reductions of maternal, neonatal and under-five mortality.
And it is a mission that was at the core of last year’s UN Food Systems Summit, which aimed to not just improve but transform food systems globally.
Crucially, it is a mission on which we in Asia and the Pacific have made important, life-changing progress.
Between 2000 and 2021, stunting in children under five years of age was reduced from 38% to 23%.
By 2021, the prevalence of undernourishment was 9.1%, a 5% reduction from 2000, and below the global average of 9.8%.
Since the turn of the millennium, many countries in Asia and the Pacific have reduced the prevalence of low birth weight by three or more percentage points, and almost all countries have increased the prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding.
These are commendable achievements for which countries and partners can be rightfully proud.
But let us be candid: They are achievements that are increasingly threatened, not least by the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and other geopolitical crises, but also by inadequate progress in several key areas.
In 2021, the prevalence of severe food insecurity in Asia and the Pacific was 10.5%, up from 7% in 2014.
Alarmingly, in Southern Asia, severe food insecurity was estimated to be 21%, meaning that 1 in 5 people in the sub-region had gone a day or more without eating.
Though stunting among children under five years of age has in recent years reduced, it nevertheless remains above the global average, as does the share of children under five who are affected by wasting.
At the same time, between 2000 and 2020, Asia and the Pacific witnessed an increase in the proportion of children who are overweight, from 4.2% to 5%, which in several sub-regions is even higher.
Need it be said: If unaddressed, this trend will increase the region’s rising tide of NCDs, exacerbating health, social and economic costs.
Today, I have four messages to help countries across Asia and the Pacific not just sustain but accelerate progress towards SDGs 2 and 3, on zero hunger and good health and well-being, respectively.
First, let us increase access to high-quality, disaggregated food systems data – data that can inform city-level planning, and which can prevent and respond to urban food security crises.
Second, let us scale up the delivery of essential nutrition actions, with a focus on strengthening primary health care programmes, ensuring maximum coverage for maximum benefit.
Third, let us develop, implement and strengthen key regulations and policies that enable healthy food environments, and which actively reduce the triple burden of malnutrition, including overweight and obesity.
And fourth, let us continue to advocate for and develop robust social protection programmes that prevent and respond to national and global shocks, protecting the poorest and most vulnerable, leaving no one behind.
In these and other areas, I reiterate WHO’s ongoing and unmitigated support, to end hunger, achieve food security, and improve nutrition for everyone, everywhere across Asia and the Pacific.
Thank you.