A plethora of nutrition actors from all corners of the globe gathered in Nepal on 4─7th November to share stories, exchange tips and regroup about what is in store for the future. Nine years into the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement, the SUN stands at a crossroads in an era when nutrition issues are more complex and intertwined than ever. Go universal? Formalize its regional presence? Place its constituent global network secretariats under one roof? These are just some of the questions that the SUN Movement is facing as numbers of undernourished and overweight people rise and the data suggests that these are two sides of the same coin. Countries and the nutrition community are sorting out how to tackle what is referred to as the ‘triple burden’ ─ undernutrition, micronutrient deficiencies plus overweight and obesity ─ cognizant that policies and paradigms need to be recalibrated and new stakeholders need to be involved. Most agree that collaboration and partnership are central to this tall task and embraced the 2019 SUN Global Gathering as a space to focus on the ‘how’.
The UN [Nutrition] Network (UNN) Secretariat took a graceful dive into the triple burden theme, organizing a workshop on day 2 where it gave the floor to government speakers from Africa, Asia and Latin America alongside international experts. Attracting over 100 participants, the session was a prime opportunity to present a newly released World Bank Report on obesity, which highlights the Health and Economic Consequences of an Impending Global Challenge. The World Bank representative also spoke about the need to build the evidence base as part of fortifying efforts that address overweight and obesity, such as the formulation of obesity policy at the country level.