National Plan of Action for Nutrition of Malaysia III (2016-2025).

The NPANM III, 2016-2025 is the sequels of the NPANM I, 1996-2000 and NPANM II, 2006-2015. The development of the NPANM III, 2016-2025 is spearheaded by the Ministry of Health under the purview of the National Coordinating Committee of Food and Nutrition (NCCFN), with active participation and consensus from all stakeholders in food and nutrition in the country. The National Plan of Action for Nutrition of Malaysia (NPANM) is the framework for action to address food and nutrition challenges in the country. It is the nation s blue print to promote optimal nutritional well-being of Malaysians through a series of strategies and activities. The Plan underscores the importance of nutrition in enhancing population health and preventing diet-related diseases. Decreasing the occurrence of nutritional deficiencies and diet-related chronic diseases, will lead to increased productivity of the population. Improving nutritional well-being of the population is also known to reduce the health care burden of the nation (pags. 2-4).
The objective of NPANM III, 2016-2025 goes beyond improving household food security whereby the element of nutrition security is given greater emphasis in line with global directions and agenda, such as ICN2 Declaration & Framework for Action as well as Nutrition and the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the next decade. Therefore, to effectively address the multiple challenges with regards to food and nutrition security to end all forms of malnutrition including eradicating hunger in the country particularly undernourishment, stunting, wasting, underweight and overweight in children under five years of age; and anemia in women and children among other micro-nutrient deficiencies, a concerted effort through multi-sectoral approaches involving key agencies such as the Ministry of Agriculture and food industries is very crucial. The objectives aim to: enhance nutritional status; reduce diet-related non-communicable diseases (NCDs); strengthen food and nutrition security.
The Foundation Strategy aim at incorporating nutrition objectives, considerations and components into national development policies and action plans as the overarching strategy for the effective implementation of the Plan. The enabling Strategies are six, identified as having direct impact on achieving the specific objectives of the Plan, as follows: Promoting maternal, infant and young child nutrition; Promoting healthy eating and active living; Preventing and controlling nutritional deficiencies; Preventing and controlling obesity and other diet-related NCDs; Sustaining food systems to promote healthy diets; Supporting efforts to promote food safety and quality.