Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
FAO is the United Nations specialized agency working on food security, agriculture and nutrition. Its health-related work connects healthy diets and food safety with the health of animals, plants, people and ecosystems through the One Health approach.
Organization profile
- Organization type
- Global health organization
- Headquarters / base
- Rome, Italy
- Geographic scope
- Global
Medical focus
Activities
Population served
Food security and nutrition
FAO’s mandate is to support access to sufficient, good-quality food and to address hunger. From its headquarters in Rome and through its country and regional presence, it works with governments and other partners on the systems that produce, process and distribute food. This connects agricultural policy with livelihoods, food availability and nutrition.
Nutrition is shaped by what food is available, affordable and consumed, as well as how it is handled. FAO’s nutrition work therefore considers the food chain from production and storage through transport, processing and distribution. Nutrition education is another part of its approach, helping people understand food choices while institutions work on the conditions that make healthy diets possible.
One Health and prevention across sectors
FAO uses One Health to connect the health of people, animals, plants and ecosystems. The approach brings together sectors that might otherwise address food, disease and the environment separately. Its programme areas include food safety, zoonotic diseases, antimicrobial resistance, animal and plant health, and the environmental conditions affecting food systems.
This work covers prevention, detection and control of threats that can move between animals and people, as well as the responsible management of antimicrobial risks. It also involves technical learning and collaboration among practitioners working in agriculture, veterinary services, food systems and public health. These functions give FAO a health role through food and agriculture policy, standards, knowledge and capacity.
Sources: [4].
Country programmes and analytical support
Country programmes apply this technical remit to particular settings. In Somalia, FAO describes work on food security, nutrition, livelihoods and resilience to shocks. Its programme includes the Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit, which supplies information used in humanitarian response and planning, and the separate Somalia Water and Land Information Management programme.
The Somalia example illustrates the distinction between FAO as the parent UN agency and a specialized programme operating within its country work. Programme analysis, government support and livelihood interventions serve different functions, even when they contribute to the same food-security objectives.
FAO served with CAFOD and World Vision on the steering group of the 2014 Future Humanitarian Financing initiative.
Further health reading
FAO’s nutrition education materials discuss iron deficiency and anaemia. This guide explains the condition within the organization’s wider work on diets and nutrition.
FAO’s nutrition strategy addresses obesity alongside undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies. This overview connects that food-system work with an explanation of obesity.
Sources
Institutional relationships