Healthy nutrition: The role of women. Report on a WHO meeting

Women – by breastfeeding their babies, providing meals for their families and making up the majority of the workforce employed in food processing and manufacturing, public catering, health care and education – have a crucial role in implementing healthy nutrition policies in the Russian Federation. This role is particularly important in both the family and society as a whole. Given the nutrition problems in the Russian Federation, programmes to improve infant health have made remarkable achievements in Murmansk. These achievements indicate the need for comprehensive and integrated food and nutrition policies, with concerted action for implementation by many different sectors. The WHO Regional Office for Europe, with support from the Norwegian Government, organized a workshop on the role of women in implementing food and nutrition policies. It provided the opportunity for representatives of different sectors in the Murmansk region to discuss how the authorities and other organizations could implement nutrition policies and guidelines, using women as the driving force. The workshop participants also discussed an action plan for regional nutrition programmes in the Russian Federation, which was drafted by experts from Moscow and over ten regions, including Murmansk and Arkhangelsk, in the Russian Federation. The participants’ comments were incorporated into the action plan, which was launched at a meeting organized by WHO, with support from the Norwegian Government, in September 2000.