WHO Collaborating Centre for Nutrition

In September 2008, Warwick Medical School was designated as a WHO Collaborating Centre for Nutrition. The Centre was re-designated for a further 4 years (2014-2018). The terms of reference of the WHO Collaborating Centre are presented as bullet points and briefly describe the scope of the activities that the institution performs as a WHO Collaborating Centre:

Operational support:

To compile and keep up-to-date national guidelines on salt reduction at population level in European countries.
To extend the search and cataloguing in countries worldwide.
To continue systematic reviews to inform policy makers and to monitor international progress.

Research:

To increase the research output in the following areas that are of interest to the WHO general framework:

(a) quantitative monitoring of urinary sodium output;

(b) analysis of trends in urinary output;

(c) producing evidence of the effectiveness of implementation programmes.
To monitor the development of new policies for the reduction of salt intake.
To study how the development of new policies is influenced by research findings.
To explore issues of distribution and access to food items reduced in salt and socio-economic barriers to their use.
The Centre studies the potential impact of social and health inequalities on the implementation of nutritional policies for a reduction in salt intake and nutritional interventions targeted at low socio-economic groups.

Monitoring within the European Network:

To act as an integral partner in the development, implementation and monitoring of national programmes aiming at a reduction in salt intake.
To support monitoring and surveillance by providing centralized laboratory measurements of urinary sodium, potassium and creatinine obtained from random samples of participating populations.

Education, Training and Capacity Building:

To organize workshops and seminars aimed at the dissemination of information regarding methods, nutritional skills, policy issues and implementation tools for European participation.

Forum and Technical Meeting on Reducing Salt intake to Prevent Cardiovascular Disease.

Paris 2006

WHO organized a forum and a technical meeting on Reducing Salt Intake in Populations, from 5 to 7 October 2006 in Paris, France.

The Forum reviewed the current evidence base on a wide range of topics, including initiatives, policies and programmes aimed at reducing salt intake in the population, methods for measuring salt intake, main contributors to salt consumption and the impact of lowering salt intake on health care spending. Stakeholders involved in the development and implementation of salt reduction policies presented their activities and participated in the forum discussions.

During the technical meeting, which followed the forum, working groups discussed the rationale for recommendations on reducing salt intake, guiding principles for policy development and specific issues to consider at national level when planning an intervention on salt reduction. The WHO temporary advisers who participated in the technical meeting drafted a series of recommendations to different stakeholders on how to facilitate the reduction of salt intake at the population level with the long term objective of preventing chronic diseases.

Click here to download the document "Reducing salt intake in populations - Report of a WHO Forum and Technical Meeting"

Salt as a vehicle for fortification.

Luxembourg 2007

As a follow-up to the forum and a technical meeting on "Reducing Salt Intake in Populations", held in Paris (France) in October 2006, WHO organized an Expert Consultation on "Salt as vehicle for fortification", which was held in Luxembourg in March 2007.

A report of this expert consultation was produced and can be downloaded here.

The World Health Organization emphasizes its commitment to population salt reduction supporting the scientific statement of the European Salt Action Network (January 2019)