This National Nutrition Strategy and Action Plan is a 5-year nationwide sectoral document aiming at improving the health and nutrition of people in Lebanon, prioritizing optimal nutritional outcomes across the lifecycle to improve overall health and well-being. The Ministry of Public Health recognizes that adequate nutrition is a prerequisite for human growth and development. It plays an essential role in building physical and intellectual well-being, including human productivity. Nutrition is also fundamental for the socio-economic growth and development of Lebanon. The outcome objectives of the Strategy are to (i) improve maternal, infant, and young child nutrition, including the prevalence of micronutrient deficiencies and stunting; (ii) reduce morbidity and mortality from non-communicable diseases by improving dietary and feeding habits; (iii) improve food security and food safety at the national, community, and household levels. The Strategy focuses on five strategic areas that respond to the strategic objectives. For each area, priority actions have been developed based on the situation analysis: Strategy Area 1: strengthened multi-sectoral nutrition governance, accountability, and information management; Strategy Area 2: aligned health systems providing universal coverage of essential nutrition services (health systems); Strategy Area 3: sustainable, resilient food systems for healthy diets (supply); Strategy Area 4: a safe and supportive environment for nutrition at all ages (environment); Strategy Area 5: social protection for nutrition to ensure economic availability of safe food (social protection). The main actions to be taken for the various Strategy Areas are: 1 (i) develop a national multi-sectoral policy framework and action plan for nutrition that ensures political commitment and continuity; (ii) develop an integrated, multi-sectoral information and surveillance system and a research plan that ensures updated nutrition information generation and sharing; 2 (i) support a resilient primary and secondary health system that provides access to nutrition services; (ii) ensure access to maternal and child nutrition services, including maternal infant and young child feeding counseling for the prevention and treatment of child malnutrition; (iii) implement prevention and treatment of non-communicable diseases program that includes nutrition counseling; (iv) develop and adopt standard national dietary guidelines; (v) develop necessary emergency preparedness plans to respond to nutritional needs of most vulnerable during emergencies; 3 (i) improve agriculture production in Lebanon and ensure access to sustainable, diverse and safe food; (ii) improve food production via the Food industry and ensure food is of high nutritional value, safe, and accessible to the people residing in Lebanon; (iii) implement and enforce the Food safety law and develop relevant legislative decrees; (iv) ensure emergency preparedness and contingency planning for nutrition and food security in humanitarian crisis or emergencies; 4 (i) implement programs to ensure safe and supportive school nutrition; (ii) implement the Infant and Young Child Feeding Policy, community support, and limiting the marketing of Breast-Milk Substitutes; (iii) implement mandatory standards for ingredient listing, back of-pack nutrient declarations, and simplified front-of-pack labeling for all pre-packaged foods; (iv) implement social and behavioral change interventions for individuals of all ages in line with national guidelines; 5 (i) support and expand the National Poverty Social Protection network and other social protection programs.
The general guiding principles adopted by the Government are (i) the need to shift food consumption to a diet that is healthy with a lower environmental footprint, encouraging a diet that is healthy and sustainable, including reducing food waste and increasing the consumption of fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole cereals; (ii) the need to ensure that nutrition and food security are repositioned and prioritized; (iii) emergency preparedness will be at the core of the strategy, therefore every action will take into consideration provisions for emergency preparedness and contingency planning to ensure access to food and nutrition services for the most vulnerable.