My brother, Dr Tom Frieden,
Excellencies, dear colleagues and friends,
Today, we celebrate the great progress we have made together towards our shared goal of eliminating trans fat from the global food supply.
Five years ago, WHO called on countries and the food sector to eliminate industrially-produced trans fat from the food supply. The response has been incredible.
So far, 53 countries have implemented best-practice policies including bans or limits on trans fat, with three more countries on the way. This removes a major health risk at least for 3.7 billion people, or 46% of the world's population.
These policies are expected to save 183 000 lives every year.
Just five years ago, only 6% of the world's population was protected from this toxic additive with similar policies.
The food sector has also stepped up. Members of the International Food and Beverage Alliance committed in 2019 to not exceeding two grams of trans fat per 100 grams of oils and fats in their products worldwide.
WHO's independent evaluation found that they are making progress in meeting that commitment, showing that reformulation and replacement of harmful trans fat in food products is feasible.
I urge food producers everywhere to follow their lead, by implementing WHO recommendations for trans fat elimination.
Only if the food industry commits and complies, will it be possible to eliminate industrially-produced trans fat everywhere.
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In April 2023, WHO launched the process to validate countries' efforts to eliminate trans fat, similar to the way in which we validate countries for eliminating malaria or neglected tropical diseases.
Today, we recognize Denmark, Lithuania, Poland, Saudi Arabia and Thailand as the first countries to go beyond just adopting policies, to monitoring and enforcing them.
Congratulations to all these countries. You are leading the world and showing what's possible.
You are the first countries to be validated, but you will not be the last. Applications to WHO's validation programme for Trans Fat elimination keep coming. So far we have received applications from 10 countries, and we plan to open the call for submissions on an ongoing basis as of March of this year.
Still, progress is uneven and we have a lot of work left to do.
In Africa and the Western Pacific, only two countries in each region have best-practice polices in effect, while the Western Pacific has the world's highest mortality burden from trans fat.
So today, as we celebrate our progress, we also take stock of the long road ahead.
WHO, Resolve to Save Lives and other partners will continue to provide technical assistance to reach our target to eliminate trans fat globally by 2025.
We know what to do, we know how to do it, and we know it works.
So let's do it. I thank you.
