Islamabad: Calling schools a decisive frontline in the global fight against malnutrition, the World Health Organization has urged governments to ensure that all food and beverages provided, sold or marketed in and around schools are healthy and nutritious, warning that poor school food environments are fuelling both rising childhood obesity and stubborn undernutrition.
In new global guidelines released this week, WHO for the first time recommended a “whole-school approach” to nutrition, advising countries to go beyond isolated feeding programmes and instead regulate everything from school meals and canteens to food sold around school premises, while actively encouraging children to choose healthier options.
The guidance comes as the world faces a growing double burden of malnutrition. While undernutrition continues to affect millions of children in low- and middle-income countries, childhood overweight and obesity are rising rapidly across regions. In 2025, an estimated 188 million school-aged children and adolescents were living with obesity worldwide, exceeding for the first time the number of underweight children.
“The food children eat at school, and the environments that shape what they eat, can have lifelong consequences for their health and learning,” WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, stressing that improving nutrition at school is critical for preventing disease later in life.
Children spend a large part of their day in school, making it a powerful setting for shaping dietary habits and reducing health and nutrition inequalities. Globally, around 466 million children receive school meals, yet WHO said there is limited information about the nutritional quality of food served in many school systems.
The guideline makes two central recommendations. Governments should first set and enforce clear nutrition standards to increase the availability and consumption of healthy foods and beverages in schools while limiting unhealthy items high in sugar, salt and unhealthy fats. Second, schools should introduce simple behavioural measures, known as “nudges”, such as changing food placement, presentation or pricing, to encourage healthier choices without restricting options.
WHO cautioned that policies alone are not enough without effective monitoring and enforcement. Although more than 100 countries have adopted some form of healthy school food policy, fewer than half have rules restricting the marketing of unhealthy foods to children, including in and around schools.
While the guideline does not assess individual countries, its release is particularly relevant for countries like Pakistan, where child malnutrition remains a major public health concern. National nutrition surveys and UN estimates show that around 40 percent of Pakistani children under five are stunted, about 17 percent suffer from wasting, and micronutrient deficiencies such as iron deficiency anaemia are widespread.
At the same time, health experts warn that childhood overweight and obesity are increasing in Pakistan, especially in urban areas, driven by changing diets, rising consumption of ultra-processed foods and sugary drinks, and limited physical activity. This nutrition transition means Pakistani children are increasingly exposed to both extremes of malnutrition within the same communities, and sometimes within the same households.
Schools, experts argue, often reflect this imbalance. Energy-dense snacks and sweetened beverages are commonly available in and around school premises, while access to affordable, nutritious food remains limited, particularly for children from low-income families. Poor diet in school years has been linked to impaired learning, higher absenteeism and increased risk of diabetes and heart disease later in life.
WHO said the guideline is designed to be adapted to national and local contexts, recognising differences in food availability, cultural preferences, prices and infrastructure. It also highlights the role of provincial, district and city authorities in shaping school food environments and enforcing standards.
The organisation said it would support countries in adapting and implementing the guidance through technical assistance and knowledge sharing as part of broader global efforts to create nutrition-friendly schools and halt the rise in obesity.
Public health specialists say that for countries grappling with both undernutrition and rising obesity, improving what children eat at school represents one of the most practical and cost-effective ways to protect child health, improve learning outcomes and reduce the future burden of non-communicable diseases.
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