FAOWHO

FAOWHO refers to a proposed joint initiative by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) to integrate food systems, nutrition, and health policy. The aim would be to align efforts across food security, diet quality, disease prevention, and emergency response, recognizing that nutrition and health outcomes are linked to agricultural practices, food environments, and safety standards.

Status: As of 2025, FAOWHO is not an official entity within the United Nations system. The term appears in policy discussions and media as a shorthand for deeper FAO-WHO collaboration but there is no formal charter, budget, or secretariat dedicated to a program by that name.

Goals and scope: If established, FAOWHO would seek to develop harmonized nutrition and food-safety guidelines, integrate surveillance data on malnutrition and foodborne illness, and coordinate responses to acute food crises. It would aim to support member states in implementing sustainable, healthy, and safe food systems that reduce diet-related noncommunicable diseases and antimicrobial resistance linked to food production.

Governance and activities: A hypothetical structure would feature a joint steering committee with equal representation from FAO and WHO, a small joint secretariat, and cross-cutting working groups on nutrition policy, food safety, surveillance, and resilience. Activities could include joint guidelines, data standards, joint statements, capacity-building, and collaborative crisis response.

Challenges: Critics note potential duplication of work, jurisdictional confusion, funding gaps, and the complexity of coordinating two large agencies with differing mandates and cultures. Success would depend on sustained political will and clear governance and funding mechanisms.

See also: FAO, WHO, food safety, nutrition, global health governance.