From January 2021 the United Nations System Standing Committee on Nutrition (UNSCN) and UN Network for SUN (UNN) secretariats will merge to form UN Nutrition.
In 2020 UN Nutrition was established though the UNSCN and UNN secretariats worked to complete their existing work plans, as of January 1st 2021 there will be one name, one work plan and one secretariat under UN Nutrition.
UN Nutrition is an UN inter-agency coordination and collaboration mechanism for nutrition at the global and country levels. By harnessing the complementary nature of the two entities, UN Nutrition responds to the changing nutrition landscape to increase efficiencies for more integrated and streamlined efforts to end malnutrition in all its forms.
This ambitious reform process started in early 2018, under the guidance of the former Chair of UNSCN, Ms Cornelia Richter, who concluded her mandate in October 2019. A year ago, Mr Amir Abdulla, Deputy Executive Director of WFP, was appointed ad interim Chair of UNSCN, guiding the whole process to a successful conclusion.
Now that UN Nutrition has become a reality, the Principals of the five constituent members -FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP and WHO- have unanimously accepted the appointment of Dr. Naoko Yamamoto, WHO’s Assistant Director-General for Universal Health Coverage and Health Systems, as the Chair of UN Nutrition for the years 2021 and 2022.
“2021 will be a monumental year for nutrition. The formation of UN Nutrition reflects United Nations agencies’ readiness to maximize the opportunities presented and work together to end all forms of malnutrition. As UN Nutrition we will speak with one, united voice on nutrition and harness the momentum of UNSCN and UNN to improve policy coherence and impact at both the global and country level.”
– Dr. Naoko Yamamoto, Chair of UN Nutrition
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