Table 2. National policy actions and targets to limit fat intake by WHO region and target group.

Target Group	African Region	Eastern Mediterranean Region	European Region	Region of the Americas	South-East Asia Region	Western Pacific Region
General public and consumers	Mauritius: Public education on fat intake reduction through dietary guidelines and food labeling; Seychelles: Public education on use of poly- and monounsaturated fats and reusing oils; oils used for frying should not be reused on more than two occasions, to reduce intake of trans-fatty acids	Pakistan: Initiate community-based behavior change communication strategies to control high fat intake; Jordan: Organize campaigns for the importance of low-fat food; Iran: Address poor dietary habits and reduce the consumption of fats and oils; promote traditional methods of food preparation and cooking e.g., use of liquid oil and discouraging food frying	Bulgaria: Promote products with low content of fats, saturated fatty acids, trans-fatty acids, and cholesterol; Bulgaria and the Republic of Moldova: Education on fat intake reduction	Jamaica: Market alternative products of high acceptability with lower fat content; labeling of products to permit informed choices by consumers; promote the consumption of products low in fat; Saint Vincent and the Grenadines: Public education on fat intake reduction	Bhutan: Public education on fat intake reduction targeting school children, dietary guidelines, food labeling, advertising, and marketing, to reduce trans-fatty acid and saturated fat intake; Indonesia: Public education on fat intake reduction; promotion of low-fat eating habits	Malaysia and Mongolia: Public education on fat intake reduction; reduce consumption of fried and conserved food; Mongolia: Provide intensive information, education, and communication activity towards reducing consumption of animal fat; Malaysia: Encourage people to minimize fat in food preparation and choose foods that are low in fat and cholesterol
Government	Mauritius: Healthy eating and good nutrition is included in the curriculum of basic schools to discourage the consumption of food items containing high levels of oils and fats; the Nutrition Taskforce to commission a study into the reuse of cooking oils and propose legislative measures to reduce trans-fatty acid intake; deep frying of foods in oils and/or fats will be discouraged and will be excluded from governmental food services and government functions	Pakistan: Develop policies and strategies to limit the production and access to ghee as a medium for cooking; Jordan: Develop national recommendations for total and saturated fat intake; Iran: Develop and publish educational materials regarding oil, its usage, and the disadvantages of saturated and trans-fatty acids for health personnel and other employees	Bulgaria: Introduction of standards for upper limits of fats, saturated fatty acids, and cholesterol for some foods; develop dietary guidelines to promote low-fat meat products and low-fat milk and dairy products; Montenegro: Development of guidelines for food production with lowered content of fat; Serbia: Harmonize recommendation for reduction of fat in processed food	Brazil: Set goals to reformulate processed food by reducing fat content; disseminate and monitor agreements and partnerships between the private sector and the civil society, to reach the suggested goals on reduction of trans fat	Bhutan: Establish guidelines to control marketing and advertisement of fatty foods, especially to children; increase tax on food items that are health harming; restrict fast food licenses	Mongolia: Improve control on nutrition quality and fat content of imported food products, and create legislative environment to promote healthy food products by taxation policy; update, approve, and implement food standards with reduced level of fat content, i.e., a reduction of animal fat consumption; promote healthy diet by reviewing and updating food standards in order to reduce fat intake; coordinate and monitor foreign trade policy in order to support consumption of low-fat-content food; China: Develop and promote healthy foods with low fat content; Philippines: Develop and implement health promotion activities for a healthy diet that limits energy intake from total fat and shifts saturated fat to unsaturated fat and towards the elimination of trans-fatty acids; Cambodia: Incorporate nutrition messages related to low saturated fat intake in the curriculum; develop standards for school and university vendors; study potential for subsidies on vegetable oils
Private sector	Mauritius: Train food industry and stakeholders on enforcement of food labeling with reference to fat content	Iran: Improve nutrition in public places through policies for reduced fat in food industries and restaurants; increase the production of low- and zero-fat products (i.e., dairy sector) in food industry	Bulgaria: Produce foods with low content of fats, saturated and trans-fatty acids, and cholesterol; FYRM: Change content of foods to reduce saturated fatty acids and trans-fatty acids	NR	NR	Mongolia: Encourage food industry and catering to produce and serve foods that decrease the consumption of animal fat
National fat intake target	Mauritius: Decrease the national consumption of oils and fats by 10% within 5 y	NR	Bulgaria: Reduce population fat intake to 30% of total energy; FYRM: Reduce saturated fat to <1%a of total energy intake and trans-fatty acids to <1% of energy intake; Montenegro: Reduce intake of saturated fats to <10% and intake of trans-fatty acids to <1% of total energy intake	NR	NR	Malaysia: Decrease the proportion of people with dietary fat intake >30% of total calories, compared to the First Malaysian Food Consumption Survey; Viet Nam: Proportion of households with a diet with 14% of protein, 16% of lipids and 5–68% of carbohydrates is 50% by 2015 and 75% by 2020

WHO classification of regions and countries was followed. Four of the countries (Mayotte, West Bank and Gaza, the Republic of Kosovo, and American Samoa) classified as LMICs by the World Bank in 2011 [25] were not WHO member states in 2011.

^aThe policy document of FYRM reports that goals are in line with those of WHO [106]. The stated goal of <1% of total energy intake from saturated fat is therefore likely meant to be the WHO goal of 10%.

FYRM, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia; NR, not reported.