Quick Facts

NNW 2025 aims to raise awareness about the importance of healthy eating and proper nutrition for overall well-being and disease prevention. It highlights the role of nutrition in physical and mental health and promotes the consumption of nutrient-rich foods for optimal outcomes. The initiative is driven by the Department of Health, together with various stakeholders, including the Association for Dietetics in South Africa (ADSA), the Nutrition Society of South Africa (NSSA), the Grow Great Campaign, UNICEF, the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Heart and Stroke Foundation South Africa (HSFSA), the Department of Education, the Department of Social Development, the Cancer Association of South Africa (CANSA), the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA), the DG Murray Trust and the South African Military Health Service.

The theme for the 2025 NNW “Food for Health, Health for All” is particularly relevant, given the country’s ongoing struggle with the triple burden of malnutrition, as previously indicated. The theme promotes access to safe, affordable, and nutritious food as a basic human right, highlighting its role in preventing disease, supporting healthy development, and fostering equitable food environments. It reflects a life-cycle approach, emphasising the importance of good nutrition from the first 1,000 days through to old age, and enables integrated action to address both undernutrition and overnutrition, and the rise in NCDs. It also calls for sustainable food systems, improved dietary diversity, local food production, and stronger nutrition-sensitive social protection. By encouraging collaboration across health, education, agriculture, social development, civil society, and the academic sector, the theme supports broader goals of universal health coverage, equity, and sustainable national development.