Strengthening nutrition governance in Uzbekistan: Aligning food systems, nutrition, and health outcomes

While Uzbekistan has made progress in reducing traditional forms of undernutrition, new nutrition risks are emerging, including overweight, obesity, and diet-related non-communicable diseases. These trends are linked to broader changes in food systems, urbanization, lifestyles, and the growing consumption of processed and calorie-dense foods.

The brief highlights that nutrition policy is not only a technical issue, but also a governance challenge. Multiple institutions are involved in food, health, agriculture, education, and social protection, yet the system lacks a clear coordination mechanism and accountability framework for shared nutrition outcomes. Without stronger governance arrangements, policy instruments may remain fragmented, weakly aligned, and less effective.