CeHDI works to drive sustainable and collaborative change for global health equity and the Right to Health. This right is established and reaffirmed across numerous international agreements and legal instruments defining and elaborating its components. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, for example, asserts: “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services”. The relationship between food and health is complex but fundamental issue that is essential to achieving “the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health” (ICESCR 1966).

In this context, the 2nd Global Harmonization Initiative (GHI) World Congress recently took place in Rotterdam, the Netherlands from 25-27 June 2025. The GHI Congress convenes scientists, policymakers, key stakeholders, and other experts to discuss the role of science and technology in improving food security, safety, health, and sustainability. Increasing global disparities in access to safe food are resulting in rising hunger, unaffordable healthy diets with inadequate nutritional intakes, and ultimately an increased burden of disease and mortality. Members of the Initiative maintain a shared understanding that society must transition towards a more sustainable food system in order to adequately feed current and future generations, while ensuring human and planetary health. Distinguished plenary and keynote speakers provided a platform for engagement in many different discussions, debates, and exchanges.

On June 26, 2025, Biruk Tewodros, Advocacy Officer at the Global Center for Health Diplomacy and Inclusion (CeHDI), gave a presentation during the 2nd Global Harmonization Initiative (GHI) World Congress entitled: Food, Nutrition, and the Right to Health: Optimizing the Science for Advocacy and Policy Actions. This presentation used a rights-based framework to illustrate States’ obligations to respect, protect, and fulfill both the Right to Food and the Right to Health, while also demonstrating how nutrition is a key determinant of health and a linkage between the Right to Food and the Right to Health.

Biruk highlighted the critical issue of food insecurity, which affects more than 2.4 billion people, 800 million of whom experience hunger:

“Increased consumption of unhealthy foods and beverages has increased the burden non-communicable diseases, which are now the leading cause of death worldwide. Likewise, more than half (4.5 billion) of the global population are not fully covered by essential health services. The increased production of processed and ultra-processed food products further fuels the epidemic of food-related illnesses, demonstrating the interactions between food and health,” they shared.

The CeHDI Advocacy Team engaged with experts and participants throughout the Congress, discussing the Right to Food and Right to Health in bilateral meetings and inviting delegates to engage with a specialized survey in order to gauge their familiarity with international human rights as a framework for good policy and better understand how to bridge the Right to Food and the Right to Health in global and national fora.

Bridging the right to health and the right to food: CeHDI at GHI World Congress 2025