Supporting the designation of the week of September 8 through September 12, 2025, as "Malnutrition Awareness Week".
H. Res. 683 is a non-binding House resolution that designates the week of September 8–12, 2025, as “Malnutrition Awareness Week.” While it does not create new law or spending, the resolution points to malnutrition as a widespread, cross-cutting issue tied to social determinants of health such as poverty, access to care, and health literacy. It calls attention to the disproportionate impact of malnutrition on communities of color, older adults, infants, and people with chronic diseases, and it underscores the potential to reduce health care costs through early identification, prevention, and better nutrition care. The resolution also encourages federal action—principally through existing nutrition programs, medical nutrition therapy, and research—along with implementation ideas (not mandates) such as adopting a Malnutrition Care Score in CMS. The text lays out a broad set of recognition provisions and policy nudges intended to elevate awareness and to support ongoing and future nutrition-related efforts across government, health care, and community organizations. Because it is a resolution, its practical effect is to signal congressional interest, encourage agencies to focus on malnutrition, and potentially bolster advocacy for funding and policy changes in related programs.
Key Points
- 1Designation of Malnutrition Awareness Week: The resolution supports designating the week of September 8–12, 2025 as Malnutrition Awareness Week and recognizes the work of nutrition professionals, health care providers, meal programs, social workers, caregivers, and related organizations in malnutrition prevention, treatment, and awareness.
- 2Recognition of malnutrition’s reach and drivers: It emphasizes that malnutrition is a widespread problem affecting people of all ages and backgrounds and that social drivers of health—such as poverty, health care access, and health literacy—contribute to malnutrition and food insecurity, with notable disparities among racial/ethnic groups and older adults.
- 3Support for federal nutrition programs and partnerships: The resolution highlights the importance of federal nutrition programs (Older Americans Act nutrition programs and federal child nutrition programs) and urges increased funding, while stressing the role of community-based organizations, food banks, faith-based groups, and local agencies in partnerships to prevent and address malnutrition in underserved areas.
- 4Promotion of medical nutrition therapy and access to counseling: It recognizes the importance of medical nutrition therapy under Medicare and stresses the need for vulnerable populations to have adequate access to nutrition counseling.
- 5Research, measurement, and child nutrition access: The resolution commends NIH research on nutrition, dietary patterns, and the gut microbiome and their impact on chronic disease, encourages the CMS to implement the Malnutrition Care Score as an electronic clinical quality measure for adults, and notes the importance of healthy food access for children in childcare and school settings.