[GENEVA, 12 March 2006] - If the Millennium Development Goals are to be met and the growing epidemic of chronic disease stemmed, the global double burden of over- and undernutrition must be urgently addressed, according to the United Nations Standing Committee on Nutrition (SCN). The SCN is scheduled to hold its 33rd Annual Session in Geneva, March 13-17, 2006, hosted by the World Health Organisation. On the one hand, there are 170 million underweight children globally, over three million of whom die each year as a result of being underweight. At the same time, there are more than a billion adults worldwide who are overweight and at least 300 million who are clinically obese, and consequently at risk for heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes and other nutrition related chronic diseases. This double burden of over and undernutrition is not simply a problem of rich or poor respectively. They are increasingly found to co-exist in communities, and even the same households, in both developed and developing countries. The SCN will agree a Strategic Framework and Action Plan for International Organisations to work together to help countries address the double-burden of malnutrition problem, thereby accelerating achievement of the MDGs and curbing the rise in nutrition-related chronic diseases. It will examine the roles of International Organisations and Non-governmental Organisations, governments and the private sector, and make recommendations for action. Agenda Symposium: 'Tackling the double-burden of malnutrition: a global agenda' Catherine Bertini, Chair, SCN LEE Jong-Wook, Director General, World Health Organization Catherine Le Gales-Camus, Assistant Director-General, Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health, World Health Organization Jean-Louis Sarbib, Senior Vice President, Human Development Network, World Bank Kul Gautam, Deputy Executive Director, UNICEF Kay Dewey, Professor of Nutrition, UC Davis Isatou Jallow, Executive Director, National Nutrition Agency, The Gambia Yu Xiaodong, Executive Director, Public Nutrition Development Centre, National Development Reform Council, Beijing, China Ricardo Uauy, President International Union of Nutrition Sciences Annual Meetings of Working Groups: Breastfeeding and Complementary Feeding, Capacity development in food and nutrition, Household food security, Micronutrients, Nutrition in Emergencies, Nutrition Ethics and Human Rights, Nutrition and HIV/AIDS, Nutrition of School Age Children, Nutrition throughout the life cycle. Parallel closed meetings of SCN Constituencies: UN Agencies; Bilateral Partners; NGO/Civil Service Organizations Plenary Business Session and Closure
pdf: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/events/advisories/2005/ma30/en/index.html