Prioritizing a “nutrition charter” is critical for the newly elected BNP government because it addresses the burden of malnutrition that threatens both human lives and the nation's long-term economic prosperity.
Bangladesh has made significant, but uneven, progress in reducing malnutrition over the past two decades, yet it remains "off course" to meet all global nutrition targets.
While stunting has dropped (28-31% of children under 5), wasting (9.8-10%) and anemia (36.7% of women) remain critical issues. The country also faces a "double burden" of malnutrition -- rising obesity in urban areas and persistent undernutrition in rural areas and slums. (Global Nutrition Report 2024)
Other persistent nutrition challenges are maternal malnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies along with increasing diet-related non-communicable diseases. Adolescents and youth who represent a large share of the population remain underserved in nutrition programming.
Relying solely on policies has not fully resolved the malnutrition problem in Bangladesh due to major gaps in implementation, targeting, and the shifting nature of the burden. Although policies exist, they often fail to translate into effective, consistent action on the ground, leaving a large portion of the population vulnerable.
To address this gap, a nutrition charter could be a possible solution as a unifying national commitment to mobilize adolescents, youth, institutions, and partners to support the implementation of the National Food and Nutrition Security Policy (NFNSP) 2020 and its plan of action (PoA).
The PoA categorically identified three organizations, namely Scouts, Girls Guide, and Nutrition Club and Nutrition Olympiad as the platforms to engage and address the challenges of malnutrition among adolescents and youth, largely to the communities through building awareness and healthy eating practices.
The charter aims to transform nutrition awareness into a social movement, ensuring coordinated, inclusive, and action-oriented engagement across stakeholders.
The nutrition charter will serve as:
By aligning initiatives under one common vision, the charter will promote efficiency, accountability, and measurable outcomes. Special focus is needed to ensure coordinated effort and accountability of the relevant organizations (government, the UN, INGOs, NGOs, private sector, academia, and the media) working in the field of adolescent and youth engagement in nutrition.
Discussions with stakeholders identified that many organizations are implementing nutrition programs at field level, yet coordination gaps and overlapping efforts reduce impact.
The charter will enable inclusion of schools, families, and communities, joint planning and stocktaking of initiatives on nutrition targeting adolescents and youth, harmonized guidelines, shared data and learning, targeted support to vulnerable groups (coastal areas, women, adolescents), and stronger government stewardship.
A visual of the nutrition charter encompassing the commitments may be displayed at academic institutions to inspire the teachers, students, and parents to raise awareness about nutrition and encourage engagements at nutrition clubs. A coordinated approach ensures better resource use, reduced redundancy, and stronger nutrition outcomes.
Nutrition clubs will be the vehicle along with other similar initiatives as youth engagement platforms and will function as the primary mechanism to implement the charter to build nutrition awareness towards promoting healthy food choices and behaviour change, organize school and community campaigns, and hosting events such as International Nutrition Olympiad (INO) and outreach drives. Through peer learning and youth leadership, nutrition clubs have been contributing to create a sustainable culture of nutrition awareness.
The charter will also represent a collective national commitment to accelerate nutrition outcomes by aligning policies, programs, and people under one coordinated framework. With the leadership of government agencies with the implementation support of BIID Foundation, and the grassroots mobilization of nutrition clubs, Bangladesh can transform youth engagement into a powerful force.
The newly elected government should take nutrition as a priority agenda to address and create a nationwide awareness campaign on the impact of nutrition towards building a healthier future nation. Such an action will be the first step towards reducing public health expenditure and improving productivity.
Also, this will create a positive vibe among the students to get engaged for nation building activities. Resource requirements for the nutrition charter will be zero from the government side if it can assign the lead government agency to bring all relevant stakeholders to support the initiative. A unified approach today will ensure a healthier, better-nourished generation tomorrow.
Md Shahid Uddin Akbar, CEO, BIID Foundation, Email: [email protected].
