A/HRC/43/44/Add.5 93. In Italy, 17.4 per cent of young people (between 11 and 17 years old) are exposed to junk food. Consumption is highest in the south (19.4 per cent of daily consumption) but also particularly high in the north-west (16.3 per cent) compared to 8.9 per cent in the centre.53 Low-income populations consume more unhealthy food than do high-income ones, spending a greater percentage of their annual income on such foods, which exposes them to a higher risk of obesity and chronic diseases. 94. In 2018, the third high-level meeting of the General Assembly on the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases took place on the margins of the seventy-third session of the Assembly. Several Governments participated and agreed on the text of a positive and balanced document (the political declaration), which was adopted by consensus. Italy, together with Uruguay, facilitated the process and led the preparatory work. Since then, the Government of Italy has initiated various policy documents on nutrition. 95. The Government has introduced programmes to increase healthy food consumption, such as the “five a day” fruit and vegetable target and the “guadagnare salute” (“gaining health”) campaign, a multi-component intervention for making healthy choices easy. The main objective is to nudge people towards healthier behaviours, which would decrease their likelihood of developing chronic diseases. 54 96. The Government is in favour of transparent information and food labelling for consumers, in line with the relevant European Union regulations (particularly No. 1169/2011) and current Codex Alimentarius guidelines. In January 2020, Italy notified the European Commission about a draft decree recommending the use of the voluntary front-ofpack food labelling scheme “NutrInform battery”. 97. In addition, the Ministry of Health confirmed that Law No. 60 of 27 December 2019 established a tax on sweetened drinks. This tax will be applied from October 2020. 98. Italy has started a process of improving the sharing with the industrial sector the nutritional characteristics of food products, with particular attention paid to children (3–12 years of age), so as to allow for a greater availability of foods with lower levels of salt, saturated fats, trans-fatty acids and sugars, without neglecting the importance of portion sizes. This has resulted in the drafting of two documents aimed at, on the one hand, directing the marketing of baby food and at on the other hand, sharing some objectives for improving nutritional quality, in line with the indications of the European Union and the World Health Organization.55 C. Breastfeeding 99. In 2019, Italy published its national dietary guidelines for healthy eating, which contain a section on the importance of breastfeeding and the support provided. The guidelines recommend exclusive breastfeeding for six months as the optimal way of feeding infants, following the recommendation provided by the World Health Organization. In 2012, the Government also held a round table on the promotion of breastfeeding and increasing general awareness of its importance.56 53 54 55 56 16 National Institute of Statistics of Italy and United Nations Children’s Fund, “Bambini e adolescenti tra nutrizione e malnutrizione” (Rome, 2013). Ministry of Health, National Center for Disease Prevention and Control, “Gaining health”. Available at www.ccm-network.it/pagina.jsp?id=node/846&lingua=english. Ministry of Health, “Commercial communications guidelines relating to food and beverages, for the protection of children and their proper nutrition”. Available at www.salute.gov.it/imgs/C_17_pubblicazioni_2427_ulterioriallegati_ulterioreallegato_0_alleg.pdf. Ministry of Health, “Tavolo tecnico operativo interdisciplinare per la promozione dell’allattamento al seno (TAS)” (Interdisciplinary round table for the promotion of breastfeeding). Available at www.salute.gov.it/portale/temi/p2_6.jsp?lingua=italiano&id=3894&area=nutrizione&menu=allattam ento.