Every year unhealthy diets cause 11 million deaths and a further 420 000 people die from consuming unsafe foods. Currently, 3 billion people cannot afford a healthy diet and unhealthy diets are related to 6 of the top 10 risk factors for the global burden of disease. The burden of malnutrition represents a violation of the human right to food and continues to drive health and social inequalities. The unsustainable practices which define our food systems are also driving deforestation, biodiversity loss, the depletion of our oceans, the emergence of zoonotic diseases and antimicrobial resistance. Our food systems are making us sick. Their transformation is critical to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

Health, nutrition and environmental sustainability need to be core, cross-cutting foundations of food systems transformation. During the United Nations Food Systems Summit (UNFSS) of 2021 the call for action to deliver healthy diets from sustainable food systems echoed through dialogues, social movements and national pathways. Formed as an outcome of the UNFSS, the Coalition of Action for Healthy Diets from Sustainable Food Systems (HDSFS) brings together Member States, UN Agencies, Civil Society Organizations, Academic Institutions and social movements to deliver on this call. WHO is proud to support the HDSFS as a platform for collaborative action to advance outcomes of the UNFSS, and transform food systems for health. 

Healthy diets from a sustainable food system are diets that are health-promoting and disease-preventing; diets that are available, affordable, accessible, and appealing to all, diets that are produced and distributed using methods that ensure decent work and sustain the planet, soil, water, and biodiversity. The vision of the Coalition is to align, mobilize and support collective action towards the shared vision of a world where all people are eating healthy diets from sustainable food systems.

Actions to ensure healthy diets for all have huge potential to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals Realization of this vision would achieve a multitude of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), such as ending hunger and malnutrition in all its forms, promoting healthy lives and wellbeing for all by substantially reducing the health burden of non-communicable diseases and improving maternal and child health, promoting responsible consumption and production, and foster urgent action to combat climate change.

The HDSFS will work as a ‘Coalition of the Willing’ and strive to act as a mechanism for coordinated action on healthy diets from sustainable food systems to which countries can look to share experiences, champion policy actions and gain support, information and inspiration. The Coalition seeks to maintain and gain on the momentum which was born out of the UNFSS from multiple stakeholders on the issue. 

Recognizing urgent, coherent action is needed in policies, practices, availability of data and resource allocation, the Healthy Diets Coalition will take a broader approach which works across the food supply, food environments and the valuing of food.

The workplan of the Coalition revolves around three key functions.

i) Mobilise and coordinate existing expertise and stakeholders to align action across food systems for collective impact at the country-level.

ii) Facilitate peer-to-peer learning between countries.

iii) Manage special projects on integrating nutrition, health and sustainability through food, determined by country priorities.

The intended outcome of the work of the Coalition is to accelerate a substantial increase of impactful actions by stakeholders across food systems, aligned for collective impact on healthy diets from sustainable food systems. Already, the HDSFS Coalition is taking steps towards the implementation of its workplan and realization of its vision.

Brazil, Chile, Denmark, Ecuador, Ethiopia, the European Commission, Finland, Ghana, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Niger, Norway, Slovenia, Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates, Yemen and Zambia.

More Member States are always welcome to join.

UN Agencies, Funds, Programmes & Coordination Bodies: FAO, UNEP, UNICEF, WFP, WHO and UN Nutrition

CSOs/NGOs and movements: EAT, GAIN, WWF, CARE, Club of Rome, Consumers International and the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement

Academic Institutions: Centre for Food Policy, City, University of London and the International Livestock Research Institute/CGIAR

Social Movements: Youth representative

The Coalition is developing Principles of Engagement to guide its interaction with additional interested stakeholders in 2022, ensuring the prevention of conflicts of interest and alignment behind the Coalition’s shared vision.

Global Alliance for the Future of Food (GAFF), Emergency Nutrition Network (ENN) and the University of Ghana

• New coalitions announced at the UN Food Systems Summit to increase access to healthy diets from sustainable food systems
• Launch event of the Coalition of Action on Healthy Diets from Sustainable Food Systems for Children and All
• Menu for Action: Food Systems Delivering Better Health
• Food systems delivering better health: executive summary
• Food Systems for Health: Information Brief