WHO urges schools worldwide to promote healthy eating for children
https://www.who.int/news/item/27-01-2026-who-urges-schools-worldwide-to-...
27 January 2026 - Healthy food in schools can help children develop healthy dietary habits for life, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), which released a new global guideline on evidence-based policies and interventions to create healthy school food environments...
In 2025, about 1 in 10 school-aged children and adolescents – 188 million – were living with obesity worldwide, surpassing for the first time the number of children who are underweight.
“The food children eat at school, and the environments that shape what they eat, can have a profound impact on their learning, and lifelong consequences for their health and well-being,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “Getting nutrition right at school is critical for preventing disease later in life and creating healthier adults.”...
In the guideline, WHO recommends that schools improve food provision at schools to promote greater consumption of foods and beverages that support a healthy diet...
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org