Overview
Given the high burden of malnutrition, in all its forms, and poor quality diets in low and middle income countries, there is a serious need to develop and re-design, integrated policies and programmes across the food systems for the promotion of healthy diets, nutrition and the pre-vention of noncommunicable diseases through cross-sector involvement and multi-stakeholder collaboration. A critical first step for the development of such policies and programmes involves assessing the food systems in a given context. Proper assessments are crucial for promoting the level of investments in nutrition interventions, coordinated and synergistic actions, and policy coherence among different sectors that can contribute to better diets.
As such, an important function of FAO’s support to member countries involves the development (and dissemination) of assessment tools that improve the understanding of food systems characteristics, dynamics and constraints in achieving food security and nutrition outcomes. Increasingly, FAO supports national and sub-national governments and food system stakeholders in urban settings in improving their capacities of governments to analyse food insecurity and all forms of malnutrition, and to better assess the contribution of food systems to the eradication of hunger, food insecurity and all forms of malnutrition by 2030.
Brief on Food System Assessments for Healthy Diets project for Urban settings
Numerous tools and methodologies exist that aim to guide policy makers in navigating food systems for outcomes relevant to sustainable development (some examples include: FAO, 2018; FAO, 2016; FAO, 2014; & FAO, 2011). However, there is a lack of food system assessment tools and methodologies which place primary focus on nutrition and healthy diets.
Given that governments are increasingly integrating nutrition and healthy diets in their urban policies and programmes, and the enhanced focus on shaping healthy environments within FAO, it is timely to design tools and methodologies with the view to enhancing nutrition and healthy diets. The FAO Food System Assessments for Healthy Diets (FSAHD) project for urban settings aims to develop and pilot a holistic tool to assess nutrition and food systems in urban areas with the aim to:
- Help policymakers and development practitoners identify elements and activities within the food system that limit the attainment of healthy diets in urban areas, and
- Guide policies, programmes and investments towards a range of potential food system actions that promote better nutrition and healthy diets, especially for the nutritionally vulnerable residing in urban areas.
The FSAHD Tool for urban areas was pilot tested in four cities in India, namely Pune and Ahmedabad, and Nepal, Kathmandu and Pokhara. It consisted of the following nine steps: (i) formation of a core research and field teams; (ii) collection and review of secondary information on nutrition and food systems; (iii) mapping the urban food subsystems; (iv) operationalizing the FSAHD tool in four sites; (v) consumer survey; (vi) data analysis; (vii) validation of results with key nutrition and food system stakeholders and informants; (viii) development of an online platform; and (ix) preparation of reports and documentation.
Contact information
Acknowledgements
- Mr Ahmed Raza, Nutrition and Food Systems Officer, FAO
- Prof. D Prabhakaran ,Vice President (Research and Policy), Public Health Foundation of India, New Delhi
- Dr Anjali Rao, Senior Research Associate, Centre for Chronic Disease Control, New Delhi
- Dr Manu Raj Mathur, Head: Health Policy & Additional Professor, Public Health Foundation of India, New Delhi
- Dr Lindsay Jaacks, the University of Edinburgh, and Visiting Professor, the Public Health Foundation of India
- Ameeka Shereen Lobo, Senior Research Assistant, Public Health Foundation of India
- Himanshi Pandey, Senior Research Assistant, Public Health Foundation of India
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Permission to be obtained from FAO, PHFI and University of Edinburgh