In urban areas in Low- and Middle-Income Countries, rates of overweight, obesity and diet-related non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are increasing. At the same time, undernutrition persists, particularly among those on low incomes. Where people acquire their food and factors such as availability, affordability and convenience all influence what people eat in urban areas (i.e. urban food environments) and are essential to people’s diets, nutrition and health
Consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) is rising rapidly, especially in urban areas in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). SSB consumption increases the risk for overweight and obesity, which are linked to a variety of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), including diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and certain types of cancer. One policy tool targeted at lessening the consumption of SSBs is a SSB tax, which increases the price of sugary drinks in a given area, which could be a single city, states or a country.
Dietary intake data are required to design, monitor, and evaluate nutrition programmes and policies; however, current dietary assessment methods are complex, time consuming, and costly. Recently, GAIN developed a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (SQ-FFQ) that can be used in coverage surveys to estimate the amount of fortified and biofortified foods consumed and their contributions to nutrient intakes.
The number of people living in urban environments is growing at a rapid rate. Urban living fundamentally changes how people eat, as they are more reliant on needing paid employment and are more limited with growing their own food. This shift towards more urban living is also seeing big changes in food environments for most people, and what food is available, affordable and accessible to them.
Food systems are essential to food and nutrition security. They are also major drivers of economic, environmental, and social development and can be positive forces for urban development. This is critical, as increasing urbanisation of the global population is shifting the relative burden of poverty, food insecurity, and malnutrition to cities. To keep up with this growth, greater urban infrastructure, are required.
This paper considers whether Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) focused on improving diets and nutrition can simultaneously advance public health nutrition goals and business goals. Discussion around the efficiency of PPPs is polarised in the field of nutrition.
The COVID-19 pandemic and associated control measures have been having far-reaching effects on societies worldwide, and food systems have not been spared. To better understand these impacts, GAIN and partners, including the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Business Network, undertook a survey of over 350 food system SMEs in 17 countries in early May 2020, aiming to assess the impacts of the COVID-19.
Animal-source foods (ASF; meat, poultry, fish, dairy, and eggs) have attracted considerable attention for both their role in diets and their environmental impacts - and their production also plays an important role in livelihoods, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
The Building Business Contributions for the 2020 Global Nutrition Summit conference in The Hague took place as part of Workstream 2 on food systems, which is coordinated by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
Nutrition programmes within commodity value chains provide a unique opportunity to improve health outcomes for workers, farmers, their households, and communities. They bring benefits to communities, businesses, governments, and markets. In order for these programmes to be viable in the long term, businesses need to be willing to invest, and the business case for doing so must be understood.
