The SUN Business Network (SBN) aims to increase the availability and affordability of safe, nutritious foods to consumers, especially low-income consumers through activities at global and national levels. At a national level, the SBN convenes businesses, assesses technical, financial and other business support service needs for members, and advocates the role of business in addressing nutrition at country level. Read More
The SUN Business Network (SBN) aims to increase the availability and affordability of safe, nutritious foods to consumers, especially low-income consumers through activities at global and national levels. At a national level, the SBN convenes businesses, assesses technical, financial and other business support service needs for members, and advocates the role of business in addressing nutrition at country level. At a global level, the SBN acts as a focal point for engaging multinational businesses in nutrition activities such as making workplace nutrition commitments.Read More
The SUN Business Network (SBN) aims to increase the availability and affordability of safe, nutritious foods to consumers, especially low-income consumers through activities at global and national levels. At a national level, the SBN convenes businesses, assesses technical, financial and other business support service needs for members, and advocates the role of business in addressing nutrition at country level.Read More
Emerging networks are in SUN Countries where the government has made a commitment to ending malnutrition through a multi-stakeholder approach and private sector companies have begun to mobilise their support for a multistakeholder, multisectoral approach to improving nutrition. Read More
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The Republic of the Union of Myanmar joined the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement in 2013, after which a multi-stakeholder platform – overseen by the National Nutrition Centre in the Department of Public Health, MoHS and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) – was established. However, recognising the significant role that private sector actors can play in improving nutrition outcomes, the World Food Programme (WFP) proposed in 2018 that a SUN Business Network (SBN) be created in the country. SBN Myanmar was officially launched in August 2020, virtually as a result of COVID-19 restrictions, and since then the network has grown to 20 members working throughout the food chain.
According to the Global Nutrition Report, Myanmar is on-track to meet two of its nutrition-related targets: increasing the number of infants who are exclusively breast-fed during the first five months of their lives (currently 51%) and preventing the amount of children under the age of five who are overweight (1.5%) from rising further. The country has also demonstrated making some progress in reducing the number of under-fives who are impacted by stunting and wasting (to 29% and 6% respectively) and lowering the percentage of infants born at a low weight to 12%. However, with regards to other nutrition targets, Myanmar indicates no progress – and, in some cases, is worsening. The number of women of reproductive age who experience anaemia stands at 46%, while the percentage of obese adults is 11% – although this is lower than the overall average for Asia. Plus, it is estimated that diabetes affects around 15% of those over the age of 18.
SBN Myanmar is governed by an Executive Committee, which is comprised of representatives from each of SBN Myanmar’s members. SBN Executive Committee members’ responsibilities are as follows: 1. Provide strategic leadership to implement the SBN Strategy 2. Actively attend and participate in SBN Board meetings 3. Guide network activities: in line with the overall aim of SBN Myanmar, and its selected thematic areas and activities 4. Selection, oversight and monitoring role: strategic guidance in expanding SBN membership and monitoring the accountability of members 5. Organizational guidance role: with regards to future funding, organisational development and governance 6. Promote the SBN: act as an ambassador of SBN Myanmar within external organisations and networks.
In Myanmar, the network is aiming to make safe and nutritious food more available, accessible and affordable for all – especially low- and middle-income consumers. To help achieve this, SBN Myanmar is working to engage and support relevant actors within the private sector.
SBN Myanmar has four thematic areas of focus:
Increasing fortified food production. Be the voice of the private sector in developing national food fortification standards and in promoting fortified food production and consumption.
Improving food safety throughout supply chains. Help businesses build their capacity and create and maintain an enabling environment for enhanced food safety
Increasing investments in workforce nutrition, including nutrition health checks, workplace lactation support, the development of maternity leave entitlement legislation, and the availability of healthy food at work
Utilising public-private partnerships to create awareness amongst businesses and consumers around the importance of nutrition
To work towards these, the network has been engaging in a variety of activities. For example, they held focus groups on concerns such as food safety, food fortification, and health and nutrition in the workplace. SBN Myanmar has also been educating businesses on the role they can play in workforce nutrition. They have also been helping facilitate new partnerships between businesses to drive forward innovation in the nutrition sector and offering companies support on matters such as marketing and finance so they can continue to grow and reach consumers. SBN Myanmar is working to create its 2022 Strategy, which will be published in due course. In the meantime, more information on the network can be found in our brochure attached.
