In May 2010, the World Health Assembly endorsed a set of WHO recommendations on food marketing to children through resolution WHA63.14. The recommendations clearly acknowledge the relationship between food marketing and childhood obesity and call on Member States to restrict the marketing to children of food and non-alcoholic beverages, which are high in saturated fats, trans-fatty acids, free sugars or salt (HFSS). In May 2012, WHO also published a framework implementation report. This report is intended to provide technical support to Member States in implementing the recommendations and in monitoring and evaluating their implementation. In particular, it is designed to draw their attention to key issues arising at the different stages of the policy cycle. Both the recommendations and the framework implementation report are available online. 

The Political Declaration of the High-Level Meeting of the General Assembly on the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases, adopted by the General Assembly in September 2011, urges Member States to promote the implementation of the WHO recommendations (paragraph 43). These calls are reiterated in WHO Global Action Plan on the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable diseases for 2013–2020, which the Health Assembly unanimously adopted in May 2013.

Subsequently, WHO held an expert consultation to provide the necessary understanding and technical assistance to countries of the Eastern Mediterranean Region in implementing the recommendations in Cairo, Egypt, on 18–19 September 2013. The consultation was a continuation of the work undertaken at a regional meeting held in Kuwait in April 2013 during which Member States discussed ways to implement the recommendations in order to reduce the marketing of HFSS foods to children.

Related report

Report on the  Expert consultation on the marketing of  foods and non-alcoholic beverages to  children in the Eastern Mediterranean Region Amman, Jordan 18–19 September 2013