On December 21, 2023, at Hotel Bengal Blue Barry in Gulshan 2, Dhaka, a significant seminar titled Seminar on Public Health Policies to Promote a Healthy Diet: Challenges and Way Forward; was organized jointly by the CLPA, ARK Foundation, Public Health Law Network, and Citizen Network-CNet. The seminar emphasized the critical role of policy measures in promoting healthy diets, highlighting that 70% of deaths in Bangladesh are attributed to non-communicable diseases linked to dietary habits. Various speakers underscored the need for comprehensive strategies beyond mere awareness campaigns, advocating for measures such as taxation on unhealthy foods, bans on misleading advertising, improved packaging and labeling systems, and market regulation to deter unhealthy eating habits. Moreover, the seminar stressed the importance of integrating nutrition into the country’s educational system and fostering healthy food habits at home. The event brought together diverse stakeholders, including representatives from governmental bodies, academia, public health organizations, and civil society. Of the attendees, there were 19 male and 10 female participants. The seminar’s outcomes included a call for increased taxes on unhealthy foods, improved packaging and labeling practices, and stringent regulations on advertising unhealthy foods to children, emphasizing the need for gender-inclusive policy implementation to ensure equitable access to healthy food choices and information. We have provided a post-evaluation survey through a link on Google Surveys about the observation of participant comments The results of the comments are attached to this report as Attachment 1. News of the meeting was published in 8 online and daily newspapers.
