SDG 2: Zero Hunger | SDG 3: Good Health and Well-Being | SDG 4: Quality Education
Ministry of Education | Ministry of Women and Child Development | Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
The World Health Organization (WHO) has released a comprehensive guideline titled Policies and Interventions to Create Healthy School Food Environments, that addresses a critical global milestone: for the first time in history, child obesity surpassed underweight cases worldwide in 2025.
1 in 10 school-aged children/adolescents is obese; 1 in 5 (391 million) are overweight. Diabetes now affects 800 million globally; 1 in 6 pregnancies is impacted. 104 Member States have school food policies, but only 48 restrict marketing of high-sugar/salt/fat foods, revealing weak enforcement against junk food saturation.
In response, the WHO is advising countries to adopt a "whole-school approach" that ensures every food item served, sold, or marketed within school premises supports a healthy diet. This guideline serves as a cornerstone of the Nutrition-Friendly Schools Initiative (NFSI) and the School Meals Coalition, which aim to provide 466 million children globally with a nutritious meal every day by 2030.
This document provides a global, evidence-based roadmap to combat the triple burden of malnutrition—undernutrition, micronutrient deficiencies, and overweight or obesity—by transforming schools into hubs of nutritional excellence. The guidelines advocate for a systemic shift, moving beyond mere calorie provision to ensuring that school-provided meals are nutrient-dense, safe, and aligned with rigorous dietary standards.
Strong Recommendations for Systemic Change The WHO provides a rigorous, evidence-based roadmap with two primary “strong” and “conditional” recommendations to modify the food environment:
Mandatory Nutrition Standards (Strong): Schools must establish legal rules to increase the availability of healthy staples like whole grains, fruits, and vegetables, while strictly limiting the availability of foods high in sugar, salt, and unhealthy fats (HFSS).
Nudging Interventions (Conditional): To guide behavior without restricting choice, schools are encouraged to use low-cost environmental cues, such as placing healthy items at eye level, using attractive naming for vegetable dishes, or adjusting portion sizes.
Universal, Stigma-Free Provision: The guideline advocates for universal free or reduced-price meals to ensure that social protection is a central objective, shielding families from rising food prices and ensuring no child is singled out due to poverty.
Implementation and Community Engagement For these policies to be sustainable, the WHO emphasizes the importance of “Whole-of-School” engagement. This involves creating school food committees that include students, parents, teachers, and food service staff to design menus that are both healthy and culturally acceptable. Furthermore, the guidelines highlight the need for strong governance and monitoring systems to track compliance and ensure that school food environments are not compromised by the marketing of unhealthy products.
Bridging Research Gaps in LMICs A significant portion of the guideline is dedicated to the unique needs of low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), which now account for 80% of children living with overweight. The WHO identifies a lack of research on marketing restrictions and pricing policies in these regions as a major barrier. To counter industry interference and digital marketing pressure—which currently reaches 3 out of 4 young people weekly—the WHO recommends that governments move toward mandatory legal instruments rather than voluntary industry pledges.
What is a “Nudging Intervention” in a school food context? Nudging refers to small, strategic changes in the school food environment that influence behavior in a predictable way without forbidding any options or significantly changing their economic incentives. Examples include placing fruit at eye level in a cafeteria, using attractive names for vegetable dishes, or providing sliced fruit instead of whole pieces to make it easier for children to consume.
What is the “Nutrition-Friendly Schools Initiative” (NFSI) mentioned in the report? The NFSI is a WHO-developed framework that ensures school-based programs address the “double burden” of malnutrition—where undernutrition and obesity coexist within the same community. It serves as the nutrition module of the broader “Health Promoting Schools” strategy, integrating food safety, nutrition education, and supportive environments to foster lifelong healthy habits.
Policy Relevance
These guidelines are highly relevant for strengthening India’s PM-POSHAN (Mid-Day Meal Scheme) and Poshan Abhiyaan, especially in addressing the rising dual burden of stunting and childhood obesity.
Standardizing Nutrient Density: Indian policymakers can use the WHO framework to transition PM-POSHAN from a “calorie-first” model to a “nutrient-first” model by enforcing stricter FSSAI-aligned nutrition standards across all states.
Eliminating Stigma through Equity: The recommendation for universal free meals aligns with India’s current school meal structure, but the focus on reducing stigma provides a blueprint for making these programs more inclusive and socially empowering.
Curbing HFSS Marketing: The guidelines provide a justification for stricter regulation of the “Food Environment” around Indian schools, specifically limiting the advertising and sale of junk food within a 50-100 meter radius of school gates.
Follow the full report here: Policies and interventions to create healthy school food environments