Mr Ciarán Cannon, T.D., Minister of State for the Diaspora and International Development speaks to why Nutrition Connect is an important part of Ireland's international development strategy.
Nutrition Connect will help all the stakeholders across the global nutrition community, from government, business, civil society and academia, to share, learn and innovate.
It will showcase the latest data, inspiring initiatives, technology and innovations, where food systems are supporting healthy diets without compromising our environment.
Poor diets are a key driver of malnutrition. I eat 5 a day but I’ve heard now should be 10! So public health messages and guilt trips don’t work for everyone. It’s the private sector that knows the market. Let’s work with them to use aspirational messages to inspire healthy outcomes.
It is the private sector that produces, processes and sells the food we need. We cannot address the health and economic consequences of malnutrition in developing countries if we are not working with the private sector.
It is only by coming together with others that such great global challenges can be addressed.