Nutrition Opportunities Worldwide

Sharing this series of #codex allimentarius courses for awareness #foodstandards #labelling #foodsafety Thank you FAO World Health Organization for producing these!

Want to learn more about #economics and #food policy? Take an online class at The Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University with William A. Masters - details below 👇

In April, ANH Academy - Agriculture, Nutrition and Health, hosted an interesting webinar "Making Progress at the Intersections of #FoodSystems, #Nutrition, and #ClimateChange,". It is available on youtube, we thought we would share it out to our network for awareness in case you missed it like we did! Find it here: https://lnkd.in/gPsXNuqB Hosted by Anne Bush from Emergency Nutrition Network (ENN) It highlighted food systems, nutrition, and climate change projects and research needs. Thalia Sparling reviewed research gaps, especially concerning whole systems and post-harvest segments. They stressed the need for interdisciplinary collaboration and better methods to turn evidence into action. She shared an “evidence and gap map” of the intersections between climate change, food systems, nutrition, and health. This interactive tool allows users to explore various themes and domains, providing direct access to results from included studies. Elizabeth Kimani-Murage, African Population and Health Research Center highlighted the importance of making visible the impact of climate change on the nutritional status of vulnerable populations in East Africa. Her work aims to drive context-specific climate policy and practical changes at scale, noting that climate change severely affects food access, leading to undernutrition and health challenges. She discussed strategies to enhance visibility and engagement and emphasized the need for robust, localized research to inform targeted policy responses and practical actions, as well as describing some current projects. Leah Richardson, Emergency Nutrition Network (ENN )presented five immediate actions to gain momentum in this area: 💡 Don’t wait for perfect solutions before acting; invest in and design multi-dimensional policies and programs. Strengthen sustainable, resilient food systems in conflict-affected environments. 💡 Future-proof solutions to keep them relevant for tomorrow, not just today. Prioritize investments and policies that build resilience and address immediate needs within the same frameworks. Evaluate the impact of adaptation strategies on nutrition security to ensure they benefit vulnerable populations. 💡Include nutrition in climate action and decision-making. Create more co-benefits between environmental outcomes and nutrition through systematic, intentional efforts. 💡 Make nutrition programs more climate-active. Ensure flexibility in nutrition programming to handle rapid and persistent climate changes. Minimize the climate and environmental impact of nutrition interventions. 💡Collect and share more stories of how change has happened. Document examples of food system disruptions in fragile contexts. We are limited by space in these posts so find out more by watching. We hope you enjoy this webinar as much as we did! Post by Amirah Mobarak and Nishita Panwar

Sharing for awareness- tune in to this webinar on the 15th - register below #nutrition #food #security #sdg2

We thought we would highlight this interesting paper recently published in “Current Developments in Nutrition” titled: From Streets to Tables: Bottom-Up Co-Creation Case Studies for Healthier Food Environments in Vietnam and Nigeria. The current global food systems often fail to deliver equity, sustainability, and positive health outcomes, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). This highlights a critical need for transformation. One promising avenue for change is through interventions in food environments, especially in LMICs. Despite widespread recognition of the importance of bottom-up approaches, there needs to be more research on their effectiveness in transforming food systems in these regions. The study by Brice Even, Scarlett Crawford, and their team aims to fill this gap by examining the impact of bottom-up, community-engaged co-creation processes on food retail environments in LMICs. The project aimed to enhance the consumption of fruits and vegetables among low-income urban residents in Hanoi, Vietnam, and Ibadan, Nigeria. and examined the impact of retail level interventions. The goal was to explore how these groups could collaboratively innovate to improve their food environments through a client-specific coupon system, co-created communication campaigns, and co-created retail-level innovations such as loyalty cards and the provision of nutritional information. 175 participants, consisting of 70% vendors and 30% consumers took part. Both vendors and consumers responded positively to the co-created innovations, indicating a strong capacity for marginalized groups to engage in public health initiatives to help develop context-specific solutions. Results from the study provide empirical evidence that bottom-up, co-created interventions can foster inclusive transformations of food systems in LMICs. Despite the significant challenges, including the COVID-19 crisis, these vendors demonstrated their ability to implement the innovations. Supporting and empowering small-scale and informal food vendors emerges as a key strategy to facilitate inclusive transformations that strive for greater equity and improved nutrition. The paper goes into some detail on the processes and methods they used in the engagement and brainstorming process, and would be a useful review for others doing similar research with vendors and consumers in LMICs. By focusing on the active engagement of vulnerable stakeholders, we can develop innovative solutions to address the unique challenges faced by low-income populations relying on informal food systems. #Nutrition #PublicHealth #SustainableDevelopment #CommunityEngagement #LMICs Link: DOI: https://lnkd.in/gEGgQCcF  post by Nishita Panwar

In their recent publication, "Food systems interventions for #nutrition: lessons from six program evaluations in Africa and South Asia," authors Lynnette Neufeld, Stella Nordhagen, et al Evaluate six #foodsystem interventions in Africa and South Asia, and identify methodological challenges and provide recommendations for enhancing #evaluation quality. Evaluated Programs: Marketplace for Nutritious Foods: Goal: Increase supply of nutritious foods in Kenya. Interventions: Community of Practice (CoP) for training and networking, Innovation Accelerator for technical assistance and small grants. SUN Business Network: Goal: Support MSMEs to enhance the accessibility of nutritious food. Interventions: Platform convening businesses, assessing needs, identifying support services, and advocating for business roles in addressing nutrition. Workforce Nutrition (KFMW program): Goal: Provide nutritious foods to vulnerable workers during COVID-19. Interventions: Emergency grants for short-term food provision, light touch assessment for grant qualification, and monitoring plans. Bhalo Khabo Bhalo Thakbo Campaign: Goal: Promote healthier snack choices among adolescents in Bangladesh. Interventions: Awareness campaign, online pledge for adolescents, and activities to support meeting pledge commitments. Nigeria Egg Demand Creation Campaign: Goal: Increase demand for eggs for young children. Interventions: Above-the-line (ATL) and below-the-line (BTL) marketing strategies, personal engagement efforts. Building Resilience of Nutritious Food MSMEs: Goal: Ensure business continuity during and post-COVID-19. Interventions: Emergency grants, training for financial and management challenges, and technical assistance for post-COVID-19 trade. Key Challenges Identified: 1: Lack of an Evidence Base for Intervention Recommendations: Conduct high-quality design evaluations before implementation, highlight poorly developed theories and logic gaps early, and include the intervention team in evaluation design. 2: Dynamic and Multifaceted Nature of Interventions Recommendations: Use a theory of transformation, apply complexity-aware methods, document intervention adaptations, and reflect on adaptive processes for scalability. 3: Addressing Attribution Recommendations: Use mixed methods, formulate clear research questions, utilize innovative methods like contribution analysis, and engage stakeholders to redefine attribution models. 4: Collecting or Obtaining Access to Accurate, Timely Data Recommendations: Incentivize data sharing, train participants in record-keeping, collaborate with implementers for data collection timing, and develop practical tracking methods. 5: Defining and Measuring Appropriate Outcomes Recommendations: Define and measure multiple outcomes, consider temporal and statistical factors, and broaden and model nutrition outcomes. Read the paper here: https://lnkd.in/gDH85T5V post by Nishita Panwar

In early June 2024, the World Health Organization (WHO) published new guidelines aimed at creating food environments that enable healthy dietary decisions. These guidelines include fiscal policies designed to discourage the consumption of unhealthy foods and promote healthier options through subsidies and other supports. This dual approach of taxing unhealthy foods and subsidizing healthy ones can significantly influence consumer behavior, making healthier choices more convenient and appealing. The overall objectives are to:   👉 Provide evidence-based recommendations and implementation considerations on taxing foods that do not contribute to a healthy diet, particularly Sugar-Sweetened Beverages (SSBs). 👉Propose subsidies for foods that promote a healthy diet, with a focus on lowering the prices of these targeted foods and beverages at the retail level to change consumer behavior. 👉Enable evidence-informed advocacy to advance policy actions aimed at promoting healthier diets. 👉Guide future research and contribute to the creation of food environments that support healthy dietary practices among both children and adults. While the guidelines provides a robust framework for fiscal measures, it is not an implementation manual. It does not detail how countries can implement and monitor these policies but rather recommends the measures to take. However, there are strong recommendations to 💡 Tax SSBs 💡Tax Unhealthy Foods 💡Subsidize Healthy Foods If implemented, the  WHO's new guidelines will reinforce healthier eating throughout the globe. By adopting these recommendations, countries can create environments that make the healthier choice the easier choice and can lead to significant positive shifts in consumer behavior, ultimately reducing the prevalence of NCDs fostering a healthier global population. As we navigate the complexities of our current food environment, it's crucial to support and advocate for policies that promote healthier dietary choices. Let's work together to make healthy eating a reality for all! link to guidelines here: https://lnkd.in/gzxHQCMa Post by Nishita Panwar #HealthyEating #PublicHealth #Nutrition #FoodPolicy #WHO #HealthyDiet #NutritionGuidelines #FoodEnvironment #DietaryGuidelines #SSB #SDG2 #HealthPromotion #SustainableDiet

Sharing this event to our network! #HD4A is hosting a webinar on July 17- register below 👇 #nutrition #sdg2

We thought we would share this summary of the recent report: The Adolescent Health Indicators Recommended by the Global Action for Measurement of Adolescent Health (GAMA). This great initiative represents a unique, multi-year collaboration between the World Health Organization (WHO) and seven United Nations (UN) agencies, focused on harmonizing adolescent health measurement worldwide. You can read a copy here: https://lnkd.in/g7TP9CBk There is an estimated 1.3 billion adolescents in the world and their future is the world’s future. Historically, the lack of comprehensive indicators for adolescent health has impeded the development of effective, age-specific policies and interventions. GAMA's recommended indicators provide a consensus framework to guide global efforts to enhance adolescent health. These indicators are designed to be integrated into national health monitoring systems, forming the foundation for policies and programs. The document presents 47 indicators recommended by GAMA for measuring adolescent health. These 47 indicators apply to all adolescent subgroups and cover six domains: Policies, Programmes, and Laws: Country-level indicators on policies, programs, and laws relevant to adolescent health. Systems Performance and Interventions: Indicators on health service coverage for adolescents. Social, Cultural, Economic, Educational, and Environmental Health Determinants: Indicators on factors impacting population health and health equity. Health Behaviours and Risks: Indicators on modifiable behaviors and risks affecting adolescent health. Subjective Well-being: Indicators pertaining to connectedness and mental health. Health Outcomes and Conditions: Indicators directly relating to adolescent mortality and morbidity. The consistent use of these indicators will not only ensure a better focus on adolescent health data collection but also bring uniformity to how countries, as well as regional and global stakeholders, collect, compile, report, and use critical information. The indicators are designed to guide policy and programming for adolescents, helping identify areas needing more detailed health assessments and additional interventions. The present document serves as a reference, ensuring that efforts to collect adolescent health data are focused and uniform, ultimately leading to better health outcomes for this vital population group. Post by Nishita Panwar #AdolescentHealth #GlobalHealth #SustainableDevelopment #SDG3 #HealthIndicators #WHO #UNFPA #UNICEF #WFP #WorldBank #PMNCH #UNWomen #UNAIDS #UNESCO

Sharing this great post by Navneet Mittal on her takeaways from the World Public Health Nutrition Congress- #wphn2024