"Fit for Life" - German Perspectives on How to Tackle the Double Burden of Malnutrition: Healthy Start - Young Family Network.

The right course for a person's health later in life is set during pregnancy, infancy, and early childhood. A healthy lifestyle at this sensitive stage of life has a significantly positive impact on the health of a mother, her child, and the entire family for the long term. In Germany, a special emphasis is placed at this point. The network "Gesund ins Leben" ("Healthy Start - Young Family Network") combines behavioral and condition-related prevention. It focuses on pregnant and young mothers and especially addresses those target groups that often accept preventive measures to a lesser extent and make proportionately less use of them. Key decision makers and all relevant actors participate. The network is supported by professional associations, scientific organizations, by other scientific institutions, the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, and by the National Breastfeeding Commission. It has developed recommendations and calls to action regarding diet and lifestyle before and during pregnancy, diet and physical exercise of infants and breastfeeding women, as well as diet and physical exercise in early childhood. Through multipliers, male and female, whom young families trust, the network seeks access to pregnant women and young families. By combining all these factors, prevention and health promotion can be sustainable and successful.

What Does it Need to Improve Nutrition Quality? The Role of Public Partners.

Public partners play a key role when we want to improve nutrition quality. They will not succeed, when they try to achieve the goal alone or tend to dominate other players. In their responsibility for common interests it is up to public partners to moderate and facilitate the multi-stakeholder and multi-sectorial dialogue to improve nutrition quality. It is up to public partners to establish clear legal and structural guidelines aiming to bring all partners together, to avoid conflicts of interests and, above all, establish conditions, in which consumers are sufficiently informed about food and nutrition, so that they are motivated, empowered, and adequately protected to take their own responsible decisions.

The Second International Conference on Nutrition, as Seen by a Member State.

For years now, providing people with food and balanced diets has been a problem unsolved by the world community. Despite numerous initiatives, the great breakthrough has still not happened, not least because the issue is so complex. Hunger and undernourishment must be fought as much as hidden hunger, overweight and obesity. Increasingly, several forms of malnutrition have been occurring simultaneously. The so-called double burden of malnutrition has become the new normal. The follow-up process of the Second International Conference on Nutrition assumes a vital role in that context. The Rome Declaration and the Framework for Action commit the international community, international organizations and civil society to undertake joint efforts across and beyond sectorial policies. Both documents also indicate numerous starting points for actions that consider individual national examples. Germany has been actively engaged at both the national and the international levels. Since its inception in 2008, the National Action Plan 'IN FORM' has taken up a number of suggestions made by the Second International Conference on Nutrition. While IN FORM is further developed, the ideas given in the Framework for Action shall provide a fresh impetus. Within its development cooperation, Germany is increasingly focusing on improving the nutritional situation, such as through its One World, No Hunger initiative. In the follow-up process, all stakeholders, including the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health Organization, will have to offer platforms to promote exchange among all parties involved and to initiate coherent actions that also reach beyond national borders. Only then can the improvement of the nutritional situation really be seen as a truly global challenge. Given the issue's complexity, it is equally important to establish priorities in each case in order for progress not to be thwarted by lengthy decision-making processes. Improving the situation of particularly vulnerable groups, such as young women and small children, shall be as prominent as the support and promotion of diversified agriculture. Building networks among partners is of equal importance for joint action and exchange between stakeholders at the national and international levels to generate added value on the way toward solving the nutrition problem. Science will also have to be more closely involved for that matter and purpose. Research is required to supply scientific evidence for certain measures to be taken, and it assumes a prominent role where political consultation, knowledge management and the implementation of measures are concerned.