SUN Global Gathering to be held in Kathmandu in November

Kathmandu, Oct. 14

The 2019 Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement's Global Gathering will be held in Kathmandu from November 4 to 7.

It will be organised with the theme 'Nourishing People and Planet Together'.

Nepal will co-host this event with the Scaling Up Nutrition Movement and will bring together representatives from more than 80 countries, including heads of state and government, and leaders from UN agencies, regional organisations, civil society, donors and the private sector.

This Global Gathering, the second of the kind to take place in a SUN Movement member country, will be inaugurated by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli.

Executive Director of UNICEF Henrietta H. Fore and SUN Lead Group Chair Gerda Verburg, UN Assistant Secretary-General and Coordinator of the SUN Movement and heads of state and ministers from scores of countries, will play key roles.

As an early-riser in the SUN Movement, joining in 2011, Nepal has achieved remarkable progress in reducing malnutrition, said the organiser in a press statement.

Under Nepal's leadership, this flagship event will bring together over 1,000 participants from all over the world, with the aim of showcasing what is working to eliminate all forms of malnutrition, including undernutrition and obesity.

It will also provide a platform for mobilising transformative commitments that nourish people and the planet in tandem leading up to the Tokyo Nutrition for Growth Summit in December 2020, said the SUN Movement.

Good nutrition lies at the heart of economic and social development and is the key to reducing inequality and eliminating poverty, for everyone, everywhere.

"Despite this fact - nearly half of all child deaths are due to malnutrition. Poor diet is now the leading risk factor for death worldwide, responsible for more deaths than tobacco, high blood pressure, or any other health risk," read the statement.

Under Nepal’s leadership, the SUN Global Gathering will unite all key nutrition actors – essential to make all forms of malnutrition a thing of the past and for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 15 October 2019.