Food Safety for Mothers and Children
John Snow Inc. Building Healthy Cities, August 2021
- Knowledge Management
Reports and Tools
Toxins and germs that come from food, improper food preparation, and poor storage are harmful to the health of children and pregnant women. Cooking food at a safe temperature, boiling water, washing hands with soap, and enforcing food safety rules saves lives. The video is also available in Hindi, Nepali, Vietnamese, and Bahasa.
Food Safety: A Foundation for Nutrition and Growth
Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition, December 2021
- Food Systems
Events
Speakers discuss the multi-sectoral requirements to keep food safe, with a focus on the informal markets where consumers source their diets. They discuss specific causal pathways in health and physiology, consumer behavior, supply chains and markets, and policy and regulation domains through which food safety and nutrition are linked. The linkages illustrate the direct ways in which food safety and foodborne diseases may affect nutrition outcomes and vice versa. This webinar was a Nutrition for Growth Summit Side Event.
Food Safety: A Pillar of Food Security
Agrilinks, February 2022
- Food Systems
Reports and Tools
Fresh vegetables and animal products are highly nutritious but highly susceptible to contamination. Achieving secure food systems requires understanding the complex relationships between nutrition and food safety as key components to the food security pillars of availability, utilization, and access.
Food Security COVID-19 Learning Series
USAID Implementer-led Design, Evidence, Analysis and Learning (IDEAL) Activity, April–June 2020
- Nutrition in Humanitarian Contexts
- Knowledge Management
- Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning
Events
Bringing together development and emergency activity implementers through a peer-to-peer learning series, IDEAL seeks to foster an engaging environment for sharing challenges and strategies for adapting programming during the COVID-19 pandemic. The series centers on the following five learning streams: monitoring and evaluation; strategic management; online collaboration; cash, voucher, and food distribution; and addressing at-risk populations.
Food Security and Nutrition in the World
The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, August 2022
- Food Systems
Reports and Tools
Experts argue that food labeling, taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages, and stronger regulations on marketing products high in fat, sugar, or salt to children are critical to address the rising levels of hunger and malnutrition. Adjusting policies on subsidies could improve food supply quality.
Food Security Portal
International Food Policy Research Institute, March 2021
Reports and Tools
Various e-learning courses address the importance of measuring women’s empowerment within project-specific contexts, impact evaluation, and economic modeling.
Food System Transformations: National Actions in a Globalized World
IFPRI, November 2019
- Food Systems
Events
As global and regional events contribute to the rapid transformation of food systems in developing countries, country actors are playing an essential role in shaping the future of their own food systems. In this seminar, representatives from Nigeria and Viet Nam discussed their experiences with private sector engagement and policy change respectively. In addition, representatives from the World Bank, USAID, and the CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health spoke about ways to develop food systems that are healthy, sustainable, and equitable.
Food Systems are Responsible for a Third of Global Anthropogenic GHG Emissions
Crippa, M., E. Solazzo, D. Guizzardi, et al. Nature Food, March 2021
Research Articles
Building on the Emissions Database of Global Atmospheric Research (EDGAR), a new global food emissions database (EDGAR-FOOD) provides data about greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the global food system. In 2015, food system emissions represented 34 percent of total GHG emissions, with agriculture, land use, and land-use change activities contributing the most. This article is behind a paywall.
The Food Systems Dashboard Is a New Tool to Inform Better Food Policy
Fanzo, Jessica, Lawrence Haddad, Rebecca McLaren et al. Nature Food, Vol.1, 243–246, May 2020
- Food Systems
Research Articles
Policymakers often have difficulty accessing and visualizing food systems data, which limits their ability to identify gaps, compare change over time, and develop policies to improve nutrition. Recognizing this need, researchers are developing a Food Systems Dashboard, an open-source digital tool that compiles data from over 30 sources and organizes them into country profiles. It includes features to help users compare countries’ food systems data and prioritize policy actions to improve food systems and nutrition.
Food Systems Everywhere: Improving Relevance in Practice
Brouwer, Inge D., John McDermott, Ruerd Ruben. Global Food Security, September 2020
Research Articles
Food systems frameworks require greater consistency. Beyond food production, agri-food supply chains, and the market and institutional food environment, a greater understanding of the social, economic, biological, and psychological determinants of food choices is important. Other important factors for decision makers to understand are the relationships among nutrition, health, and the burden of diseases; the political economy; power dynamics; and gender differences.
Food Systems and Nutrition E-Consultation: Emerging Evidence and Research Opportunities
Agrilinks, November 2019
- Food Systems
Events
To help uncover research gaps in food systems and nutrition, Agrilinks, USAID Advancing Nutrition, and USAID’s Bureau for Food Security hosted an e-consultation in November 2019. Discussions across four themes focused on an evidence review by the USAID Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Nutrition. Participants from around the world discussed research priorities to build evidence for nutritious food systems, resulting in a collection of useful resources while also shaping the future food systems research agenda.
Food Systems Transformation, Animal-Source Foods Consumption, Inequality, and Nutrition in Myanmar
Scott, Jessica M., Ben Belton, Kristi Mahrt, et al. Food Security, August 2023
- Food Systems
Research Articles
Researchers found little change in the quantity of animal-source foods (ASF) consumed between 2010–2015 but substantial composition changes. They also found increasing rural–urban and income-linked inequality in quantities of ASF and associated nutrients consumed and declines in the adequacy of intake of several micronutrients due to the changing composition of ASF. Elevated levels of ASF-derived total fat and sodium consumption among higher income consumers point to an emerging triple burden of malnutrition.
Food Taboos, Health Beliefs, and Gender: Understanding Household Food Choice and Nutrition in Rural Tajikistan
McNamara, Katherine, Elizabeth Wood. Journal of Health, Population and Nutrition, 38:17, August 2019
- Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning
- Social and Behavior Change and Gender
Research Articles
Understanding food taboos and health beliefs can provide important insights into how social interactions affect nutritional status. This quantitative study investigates the influence of gender and power structures on dietary knowledge and practices at the household level. Authors call for a more inclusive approach to the study of food taboos and nutrition that takes into account power, history, environment, economics, and the politics in which food practices and nutrition occur.
Food Tech and Climate-Smart Agriculture
Center for Strategic and International Studies, March 2022
- Food Systems
Events
Speakers discuss the role of advanced technology in promoting climate-smart agriculture, achieving goals under the Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate and the U.S. Methane Emissions Reduction Action Plan, and addressing food security in the United States and globally. This is a webinar.
Food and Youth: What I Have Learned from Young People and Their Desire to Fix the Food Systems They Live In
International Food Policy Research Institute, October 2021
- Knowledge Management
Events
UNICEF’s executive director and youth representatives discuss young people’s struggles with their food choices and food environments, share how young people are contributing to the transformation of global and local food systems, and offer concrete next steps to ensure that children and young people are at the center of discussions about food systems transformation. This is a webinar.
For Children with Disabilities, “Wait and See” Just Won't Work
Duke Global Health Institute, October 2021
- Early Childhood Development
Events
It is critical for doctors, families, policymakers, and researchers to work together to support early diagnosis and intervention for children with developmental disabilities. Panels focused on autism, hearing loss, and cerebral palsy, but issues discussed are common to many types of disabilities, especially for patients and caregivers in low- and middle-income countries, where supports and services are often limited. This is a webinar.
Forest Conservation: A Potential Nutrition-Sensitive Intervention in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
Rasolofoson, Ranaivo A., Taylor H. Ricketts, Anila Jacob, et al. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, Vol. 4, March 2020
- Food Systems
Research Articles
Forests support nutrition by supplying food products, providing a habitat for pollinators, and creating income-generating opportunities, among other benefits. This study provides additional evidence for the links between forest conservation and nutrition, determining that forest exposure is associated with significantly lower rates of stunting in low- and middle-income country contexts. The authors assert that forest conservation shows potential as an effective nutrition-sensitive intervention.
Formulation and Nutritional Properties of Qualea-Bird-Meat-Based Complementary Foods for Children (6–23 months) in Tanzania Using a Linear Programming Technique
Ngume, L. S., L. K. Katalambula, M. J. Munyogwa, et al. NFS Journal, February 2023
- Nutrition in Humanitarian Contexts
Research Articles
Analyses using a linear programming model in Tanzania found that the nutritional content of several supplemental food formulations based on the qualea bird's meat differed significantly. Authors recommend using this model to develop products to address malnutrition.
Fortified Balanced Energy-Protein Supplementation, Maternal Anemia, and Gestational Weight Gain: A Randomized Controlled Efficacy Trial Among Pregnant Women in Rural Burkina Faso
Hanley-Cook Giles, Laeticia C. Toe, Kokeb Tesfamariam, et al. The Journal of Nutrition, July 2022
- Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning
Research Articles
In Burkina Faso, fortified balanced energy-protein supplementation (BEP) did not reduce maternal anemia or increase gestational weight gain when compared with iron–folic acid. Small positive effects of maternal BEP supplementation on birth outcomes support the need for additional investigation of different biochemical and postnatal outcomes.
Fortified Balanced Energy–Protein Supplementation During Pregnancy and Lactation and Infant Growth in Rural Burkina Faso: A 2 × 2 Factorial Individually Randomized Controlled Trial
Argaw, Alemayehu, Brenda de Kok, Laeticia Celine Toe, et al. PLOS Medicine, February 2023
- Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning
Research Articles
During this study in Burkina Faso, the benefits of daily fortified balanced energy–protein supplementation during pregnancy and lactation size at birth were sustained during infancy.
Fortified Blended Flour Supplements Displace Plain Cereals in Feeding of Young Children
Cliffer, Ilana R., William A. Masters, Beatrice L. Rogers. Maternal & Child Nutrition, September 2020
- Nutrition in Humanitarian Contexts
Research Articles
Lipid-based nutritional supplements and fortified blended flours are widely used to increase nutrient density of children's diets and improve health. Due to their small stomach size and rapid growth velocity, infants need higher nutrient density foods than do other family members. While foods premixed with fortificants can meet infant needs, their effectiveness is compromised by displacement of other food. Fortified cereals improve diet quality more than other supplementation strategies by displacing plain cereal without altering breastfeeding or other intakes.
The Foundation of All Development Activities? Part 1 of 2
Millennium Challenge Corporation, August 2021
Reports and Tools
This podcast episode, featuring USAID Chief Nutritionist Shawn Baker, explores the foundational nature of nutrition in international development and how development agencies across the U.S. government can leverage their strengths for maximum impact.
Frequently Asked Questions: Breastfeeding and COVID-19 for Health Care Workers
World Health Organization, May 2020
- Nutrition and Health Systems
Reports and Tools
In addition to answering common questions about COVID-19 transmission through breast milk and the risks of choosing not to breastfeed, a decision tree helps health care workers understand current guidelines and precautionary steps to support breastfeeding mothers with a suspected or confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis. The document is available in Arabic, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.
Freshwater Aquaculture is More Important for Food Security than Previously Understood
Agrilinks, April 2022
- Food Systems
Reports and Tools
Balanced approaches to science, policy, and investment that prioritize freshwater aquaculture development in addition to mariculture contribute more to global food security than those favoring mariculture alone.