An online nutrition initiative

WHO 2011/09/07

In an effort to stop millions of people dying and suffering every year from malnutrition, the World Health Organization (WHO) has launched a new web-powered initiative that clarifies guidance on life-saving nutrition intervention, and assists governments and health care providers to better scale up action against all forms of malnutrition.

The High Food Price Challenge: A Review of Responses to Combat Hunger

by Frederic Mousseau

The Oakland Institute 2011

High food prices in 2007-2008 threatened the livelihoods and food security of billions of people worldwide for whom getting enough food to eat was already a daily struggle. All over the world, individuals, civil society groups, governments and international organizations took action to cope with the crisis triggered by skyrocketing food prices. This report investigates whether these responses were appropriate and effective and whether high food prices have brought about any changes in food and agriculture policies.

Keywords: health and nutrition, government, crisis, international, policies, struggle

Leveraging Agriculture for Improving Nutrition and Health

Corinna Hawkes and Marie Ruel

IFPRI 2011

Currently, close to 1 billion people suffer from hunger and food insecurity, which is defined as not having enough food (calories) to live a healthy life (FAO 2010). While these numbers are staggering, the problem of poor access to nutritious (nutrient-rich) foods1 and to diets of adequate quality is even more daunting (World Bank 2007a). Typically, poor households subsist on monotonous staple based diets and lack access to nutritious foods such as fruits, vegetables, animal source foods (fish, meat, eggs, and dairy products) or wild foods of high nutrient content.

Reproduced with permission from the International Food Policy Research Institute.

Keywords: health and nutrition, nutrient, fish, meat, fruits, hunger, source, animal, vegetables

Agriculture, Nutrition, Health: exploiting the links

IFPRI 2011/02/12

Most people would say that agriculture is for growing food, and on one level, they are right. Agricultural performance, after all, is measured in terms of production and productivity. The point of agriculture doesn’t stop there, however. At a deeper level, the purpose of agriculture is not just to grow crops and livestock, but to grow healthy, well nourished people. Farmers produce a wide range of goods, including cotton, coffee, and energy crops, but one of their ultimate tasks is to produce food of sufficient quantity (that is, enough calories) and quality (with the vitamins and minerals needed by the human body) to feed all of the planet’s people so that they can lead healthy, productive lives. Agriculture thus effectively includes goals related to human health and nutrition.

Reproduced with permission from the International Food Policy Research Institute.

Keywords: health and nutrition, cotton, coffee, crops, energy, vitamins, calories, human, agriculture, productivity

Fighting Poverty and Hunger

Policy Brief

Food and Agricultural Organization 2010/08

Towns and cities are growing rapidly in developing countries. This process is often accompanied by high levels of poverty and hunger, leading many urban dwellers to engage in farming activities to help satisfy their food needs. Policy makers need to recognize this reality and actively seize the opportunities offered by urban agriculture.

Keywords: health and nutrition, developing country, urban, policy, agriculture

AFGHANISTAN: current and prospective food supply situation

Food and Agricultural Organization 2010/08/19

The average prices of wheat, the main staple in Afghanistan, have remained generally stable in recent months (Afs 13.5/Kg), although they have seasonally increased before the main harvest from August/September. In all main markets, prices of wheat and wheat flour (both local and imported) remain well below their levels of a year ago and their peaks of 2008. Prices of wheat are expected to decline in the next few months with the arrival of the new harvest into the markets. There are concerns that the relatively low level of wheat prices in the country may result in a reduction of the area planted next season.

Keywords: health, and, nutrition, Afghanistan, food, supply, market, wheat, price

Leveraging Agriculture for Improving Nutrition and Health

Concept Note for an International Policy Consultation

IFPRI 2010/06/18

The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) proposes to undertake a global policy consultation, under the auspices of its 2020 Vision Initiative, to explore linkages among agriculture, nutrition, and health to inform policies and strategies to better leverage agriculture in improving nutrition and health outcomes. Persistent hunger, malnutrition, and ill health, made worse by the recent food and financial crises, threaten the ability of many countries to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015.

Reproduced with permission from the International Food Policy Research Institute.

Keywords: health, and, nutrition, MDG, agriculture, poverty, hunger, malnutrition, policy, financial, crises

Access, Adoption, and Diffusion: Understanding the Long-term Impacts of Improved Vegetable and Fish Technologies in Bangladesh

Neha Kumar and Agnes R. Quisumbing

IFPRI 2010/08/05

This paper assesses long-term impacts of vegetable and polyculture fish production technologies on a variety of measures of household and individual well-being in Bangladesh. In 1996–1997, households were surveyed in three sites where nongovernmental organizations and extension programs were disseminating agricultural technologies—about two to six years after the technologies were first introduced. The same households were reinterviewed in 2006–2007.

Reproduced with permission from the International Food Policy Research Institute.

Keywords: health, and, nutrition, Bangladesh, access, agriculture, households, technologies, vegetables, impacts

Halving Hunger: Meeting the First Millennium Development Goal through “Business as Unusual”

Shenggen Fan

IFPRI 2010/06

In 2000, the world’s leaders set a target of halving the percentage of hungry people between 1990 and 2015. This rather modest target constitutes part of the first Millennium Development Goal, which also calls for halving the proportion of people living in poverty and achieving full employment. However, the effort to meet the hunger target has swerved off track, and the world is getting farther and farther away from realizing this objective. The goal of halving hunger by 2015 can still be achieved, but business as usual will not be enough. What is needed is “business as unusual”—a smarter, more innovative, better focused, and cost-effective approach to reducing hunger.

Reproduced with permission from the International Food Policy Research Institute.

Keywords: health, and, nutrition, MDG, poverty, employment, millennium, development, goals, objective, hungry, hunger

Advancing Food Safety in China

Occasional Paper

UNHCR 2008/03

The purpose of this paper is to set out the UN System’s analysis of the food safety situation in China. It draws on the collective experience and expertise of all the relevant UN Agencies, given their collective role as custodian of global norms and standards in this area. It includes seven separate chapters with policy notes on food safety legislation, management, inspection and enforcement, trade dimensions, monitoring and surveillance, communication and international cooperation, each of which presents a series of policy recommendations.

Keywords: health, and, nutrition, safety, China, legislation, management, trade, monitoring, communication, policy

World Health and International Economic Sharing

Mohammed Mesbahi

Share The World's Resources 2009/08/26

Poverty and social conditions are widely acknowledged to be the major causes of ill health in developing countries. This report explains how greater international economic sharing is the first step towards achieving the world-wide goal of health care for all.

Keywords: health, nutrition, world, economy, international, poverty, WHO

The True Cost of Cheap Food

Timothy A. Wise

Share The World's Resources 2010/03/03

While the globalisation of agriculture results in cheaper food, it also contributes to environmental degradation, increased poverty amongst producers, and global hunger. Establishing the value of such an essential good should not be left to the market, argues Timothy A. Wise.

Keywords: health, nutrition, diet, cost, food

Global Nutrition Institutions: Is There an Appetite for Change?

Ruth Levine and Danielle Kuczynski

Center for Global Development August 2009

This paper describes the major institutional weaknesses in global nutrition and presents two recommendations to address the joint problems of incoherence, lack of institutional leaders, and persistent underfunding. First, within the domain of global health�where a significant part of the programmatic response rests�current and potential funding agencies at the international level could create a shared set of principles that lay out expectations for the coordination, coherence, and collaboration among institutions that currently do or might receive funding for global nutrition programs. A second priority is for leaders in UN agencies to act on specific opportunities to elevate the agenda of nutrition security within the work of the UN System High-Level Task Force for the Global Food Security Crisis, which is stimulating and coordinating a response among the UN system and international financial institutions.

Keywords: health, nutrition, global, food, security, partnerships, crisis

Food Security through Ricebean Research in India and Nepal, Report 4: Nutritive Value of Ricebean

Peter Andersen

European Commission 6th Framework Programme, Project no. 032055 2007

The present report contains a review of existing literature on the nutritive value of ricebean (Vigna umbellata), supplemented by chemical analyses of selected nutrients. It is found that ricebean has a number of favourable characteristics in comparison with many other pulses. The protein content is in a normal range, but with a high digestibility and a very favourable amino acid composition for human consumption. The content of B vitamins is good, especially thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, pantotenic acid and folate, but it is not an important source of other vitamins. It is a good source of many minerals, including calcium, phosphate, potassium, iron and zinc. Compared to recommended daily requirements, the consumption of a realistic amount of ricebean can provide very considerable amounts of protein, all essential amino acids, the mentioned vitamin B's and minerals. The content of fats is very low, and with a healthy fatty acid composition. There are no toxins or allergenic compounds linked to ricebean, and the content of enzyme inhibitors is low compared to most other pulses. The content of other antinutrients such as phytate is also moderate compared to other pulses, and the levels reduced by common cooking methods. Likewise, ricebean contains less flatulence producing saccharides than many other pulses. Ricebean is having local cultural roles, but generally there has not been found any cultural rules restricting its use.

Keywords: health, nutrition, European Commission, ricebean, nutrition, chemical breakdown

Food Security through Ricebean Research in India and Nepal, Report 5: Ricebean Food Preparation and Diets

Peter Andersen, Naveen Kumar, Bipin Acharya

European Commission 6th Framework Programme, Project no. 032055 2009

The existing scientific literature has established that the nutritional value of ricebean (Vigna umbellata) in many respects is impacted by different methods of food preparation. In particular, antinutritional factors such as phytic acid, tannin and trypsin inhibitor, and the content of indigestible saccharides are reduced considerably if the beans are subject to common, low cost, pre-cooking and cooking procedures. The effects of overnight soaking, sprouting, de-hulling and pressure cooking all tend to reduce anti-nutritional factors, and in effect make the important micronutrients more bioavailable and the beans more digestive. Field evidence shows that the widespread use of pressure cookers for common preparations of ricebean is, unfortunately, leading to widespread neglect of soaking and sprouting. The evidence in scientific literature clearly suggests that a combination should be advocated, for ricebean as well as for other grain pulses. The most common preparation of ricebean in both India and Nepal is as dhal, a soup or sauce which is served with a staple of rice, wheat or maize, and various vegetable curries in addition to dairy produce. However, ricebean is also served using a number of other recipes, including mixed bean sprout soup, ricebean stuffed items, and grinding soaked ricebean into a paste to make various shapes of deep fried nuggets. Many of these recipes are existing local ones, and field demonstrations show that ricebean is a versatile raw material which can substitute other pulses in common recipes that are locally popular. Thereby, ricebean has potentials when it comes to value added products which can be produced at a local market place and tea-shop level. The field evidence also shows that there are large variations in the diets in different sites, both in terms of staple composition (the balance between rice, maize and wheat) and the consumption of different grain pulses. In the four areas in the nutritional survey, ricebean was recorded as the sixth most common grain pulse.

Keywords: health, nutrition, European Commission, ricebean, nutrition, diet, food preparation, cooking, Nepal, India