Ilsur Metshin: “The nutrition affects the health even more than bad habits and the environment”

The business program of the International Forum “Healthy Cities. Healthy Nutrition for Children” started at the Kazan City Hall.

The business program of the International Forum “Healthy Cities. Healthy Nutrition for Children” started at the Kazan City Hall. The forum is attended by Russian and foreign experts, mayors of cities, representatives of the health and healthy nutrition sector from different countries. The forum will become a platform for the sharing best practices, modern approaches and knowledge of specialists, said the Mayor of Kazan Ilsur Metshin.

The forum is attended by about a thousand experts, and many will join the discussions online.

The forum program covers not only the theoretical part, but also includes sharing best practices on one of the most important issues– good nutrition. “There is a study by the World Health Organization that confirms that the nutrition affects the health even more than bad habits and the environment”, - I.Metshin stressed.

The Kazan program “Healthy Nutrition for Children” was introduced 15 years ago, the head of the capital of Tatarstan reminded. He expressed hope that the experience gained in Kazan will be useful and applicable for other cities.

Deputy Prime Minister of Tatarstan Leyla Fazleyeva also welcomed the participants of the event. “The International Forum is held in Kazan for a reason. This city has been at the forefront of implementing new projects for many years, and is a center of international and interregional cooperation on health issues”, - she said.

Melita Vujnovic, Special Representative of the World Health Organization in Russia, welcomed the participants of the forum by video conference. “The topic of the forum is of great importance for the whole world”, - she said, and thanked the leadership of Kazan for its active participation in the Healthy Cities movement.

Today's event will be the first Eurasian Forum of the Milan Pact – a significant innovative urban nutrition strategy in Europe.

The business program of the forum will continue with a round table of mayors on the issue of “Healthy nutrition for children. Best practices of food organization”. It will be attended by experts from Russia and other countries.

For reference, the International Forum “Healthy Cities. Healthy Nutrition for Children” started in Kazan on June 1.