Poor nutrition outcomes for Aotearoa: Call for action

9 November – Press release, Activity and Nutrition Aotearoa

Poor nutrition is the leading cause of health loss in Aotearoa and is preventable. Improved access to healthy, safe and affordable food for everyone in Aotearoa must be a priority for the new government, says Activity and Nutrition Aotearoa (ANA).

ANA has today released three issues papers, Kawea Ake te Wero: Enabling everyone in Aotearoa to eat well. Two key issues identified are the lack of up-to-date nutrition data and the lack of a national nutrition strategy.

“ANA urgently demands the regular, robust collection of data to monitor food and nutrition trends and the development of a national nutrition strategy”, says ANA Board Chair, Shayne Nahu.

The nutritional issues papers consider unhealthy food and drink environments and food insecurity, nutritional impacts on health, and vitamins and minerals of concern in the New Zealand diet.

“Improving the socioeconomic determinants of health will have the greatest impact on reducing inequities for our most vulnerable populations, particularly Māori, Pacific and children,” Mr Nahu says.

Victoria University of Wellington senior lecturer Dr Lisa Te Morenga comments, “Poor nutrition is the leading cause of health loss, in Aotearoa and globally. So it is shocking that while we have led the world in protecting New Zealanders from Covid-19 we do not have a national strategy for ensuring that we all have access to healthy, affordable and safe food.”

Professor Boyd Swinburn supports ANA’s call to action. He says, “What gets measured gets managed and New Zealand is doing poorly on both counts when it comes to nutrition. The call from ANA is very sharp and timely – do a much better job of monitoring the population’s diet and nutrition status as the country’s number one disease risk factor; and do a much better job of managing that risk through a national food and nutrition strategy. I strongly support both calls.”

Kawea Ake te Wero: Enabling everyone in Aotearoa to eat well is available at: https://ana.org.nz/kawea-ake-te-wero-enabling-everyone-in-aotearoa-to-eat-well/

For more information contact:

Alison Pask
Executive Director
Activity and Nutrition Aotearoa
[email protected]
P 027 2471219