TEACHING CHILDREN TO EAT WELL MUST BEGIN IN SCHOOL

Food literacy is no longer a luxury; the focus must shift from just feeding children to teaching them how to eat well

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Last month, world leaders gathered in Paris for the Nutrition for Growth (N4G) Summit. It was also a time for the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to announce the extension of the United Nations Decade of Action on Nutrition, from its original timeframe of 2016-25, to 2030. This extension seeks to sustain the global momentum to end all forms of malnutrition and align efforts more closely with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

This could be a turning point in nutrition not only to accelerate progress but also to shift the focus beyond food access — to understanding what people eat, how they eat, and why they eat, especially when it comes to children. Nutrition is not just a health concern. It is intricately connected to education, equity and environmental sustainability.

So far, global nutrition efforts have rightly focused on the first 1,000 days of life — from conception to two years of age — as a critical window to prevent malnutrition. But we now know that the next 4,000 days matter just as much. This includes the period of adolescent growth spurt — a time of rapid physical, emotional, and behavioural changes and offering a second window of opportunity to overcome early childhood deficits.

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Good nutrition during this phase can help children catch up on growth and set the foundation for long-term health. But to do that, we must shift our focus from just feeding children to teaching them how to eat well.