WHO calls on schools worldwide to adopt comprehensive strategies promoting nutritious meals and healthier food environments to combat childhood obesity and undernutrition.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has released a new global guideline emphasizing the role of schools in fostering lifelong healthy dietary habits. For the first time, the agency recommends a whole-school approach, ensuring that food and beverages provided within schools and across surrounding environments are nutritious and health-promoting.
Childhood overweight and obesity continue to rise worldwide, while undernutrition remains a persistent issue. Schools are on the front line of this dual burden. In 2025, roughly one in ten school-aged children and adolescents—about 188 million were living with obesity, surpassing the number of children who are underweight for the first time.
“The food children eat at school, and the environments that shape their choices, can profoundly affect learning and have long-term health implications,” said WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “Getting nutrition right at school is critical for preventing disease and creating healthier adults.”
Schools play a key role in establishing healthy dietary practices, given the significant time children spend there. Globally, an estimated 466 million children receive school meals, yet detailed information on their nutritional quality remains limited.
WHO’s guideline recommends improving school food provision to encourage consumption of healthier foods and beverages. Key measures include:
Establishing standards or rules to increase access to and consumption of nutritious options while limiting unhealthy foods (strong recommendation).
Using nudging strategies, such as adjusting placement, presentation, or pricing to encourage children to select healthier foods (conditional recommendation).
The WHO emphasizes that policies alone are insufficient; effective monitoring and enforcement are essential for consistent implementation. According to the WHO Global database on the Implementation of Food and Nutrition Action (GIFNA), as of October 2025, 104 Member States had policies on healthy school food, with nearly three-quarters including mandatory nutritional criteria. However, only 48 countries had policies restricting the marketing of foods high in sugar, salt, or unhealthy fats.
The guideline was developed by an international, multidisciplinary group of experts through a rigorous, evidence-based process. It aligns with WHO’s broader initiatives, including the acceleration plan to stop obesity and the nutrition-friendly schools initiative, and is intended to support actions at both national and local levels, recognizing the pivotal role of subnational and city authorities.
