Governor Stein Proclaims Malnutrition Awareness Week

Malnutrition Awareness Week

2026

By The Governor Of The State Of North Carolina

A Proclamation

Whereas, experts agree that nutrition status is a direct measure of health and that good nutrition can help keep people healthy and out of health care institutions; and

Whereas, inadequate or unbalanced nutrition, known as malnutrition, is prevalent among vulnerable populations such as hospitalized patients and minority populations, with older adults having the highest rate of malnutrition compared to other age groups; and

Whereas, malnutrition can result in the loss of lean body mass, leading to complications that worsen health outcomes, including slower recovery from surgery, illness, or disease; and

Whereas, disease-related malnutrition is a highly prevalent form of malnutrition; each day, approximately 15,000 hospital patients with malnutrition go undiagnosed; and

Whereas, malnourished patients endure hospital stays twice as long as the stays of patients with no malnutrition; and malnourished patients’ 30-day hospital readmission rate is 2.2 times higher than the rate for patients without malnutrition; and

Whereas, malnutrition leads to more complications, falls, and hospital readmissions, plays a role in cognitive decline and decreased functional capacity, affects the person’s quality of life, and increases the mortality rate; 

Whereas, screening, assessment, diagnosis, and interventions such as nutrition counseling, oral nutrition supplements, fortified foods, and enteral or parenteral nutrition, as well as home-delivered and congregate meals, are key to improving the lives of those suffering from malnutrition throughout the nation and in North Carolina;

Whereas, federal nutrition programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), WIC, SUN Bucks, Seniors Farmers Market Nutrition Program, and school meals are effective programs that reduce food insecurity and improve dietary outcomes for children and older adults alike;

Now, Therefore, I, Josh Stein, Governor of the State of North Carolina, do hereby proclaim September 14 – 18, 2026, as “Malnutrition Awareness Week” in North Carolina and commend its observance.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the Great Seal of the State of North Carolina at the Capitol in Raleigh this eighth day of September in the year of our Lord two thousand and twenty-sixth and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and fifty-first.