Beyond the COVID-19 health emergency, a recession looms, and countries ought to take measures now to soften the longer-term impacts on hunger and food insecurity, a new FAO policy brief says.
Archive for month: April, 2020
In this interview, we speak with Mike Robson, FAO Representative in Syria about the COVID-19 pandemic and what it could mean for a country such as Syria, which is on a long road to recovery after nine years of crisis.
The forestry industry must take steps to improve its safety record and promote decent rural employment in support of the Sustainable Development Agenda, according to a new FAO paper published today on World Day for Safety and Health at Work.
Deadline for submission: 20 June 2020
Background
The Department of Nutrition and Food Safety (NFS) established the WHO Nutrition Guidance Expert Advisory Group (NUGAG) Subgroup on Policy Actions in 2018 to support WHO’s work in developing evidence-informed guidance on effective policy measures to support Member States in developing enabling food environment to promote healthy diets and good nutrition.
At a meeting convened in Qingdao, China from 09 to 13 December 2019, the NUGAG Subgroup on Policy Actions initiated the work on developing guidelines for school food and nutrition policies.
To inform the work of the NUGAG Subgroup on Policy Actions, a systematic review is currently being conducted on the effects of policies or interventions that influence the school food environment.
Call for data
To complement published data that are being identified via systematic searching of relevant scientific literature databases, WHO is requesting interested Member States and other parties to submit available evidence reviews for effects of policies or interventions that influence the school food environment, including grey literature or studies. Evidence must be for implemented policies or interventions that influenced or changed the school food environment, which could include:
- Nutrition standards or rules that determine the quality of food served or sold in and around schools
- Marketing restrictions of unhealthy food and non-alcoholic beverages (FNABs) in and around schools
- Nudging interventions promoting healthy food behaviour in the school environment (e.g. product placement)
- Pricing policies to promote healthier alternatives (e.g. subsidies of healthy foods; higher cost of unhealthy options)
- Direct food provision to students in schools (e.g. meal programmes; vegetable and fruit distribution)
Data and information being sought include evaluations of implemented policies or interventions, and that report on one or more of the following outcomes:
- Consumption of healthy FNAB in school, out of school or overall (e.g. fruits and vegetables)
- Consumption of discretionary FNAB in school, out of school or overall (e.g. sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs)
- Diet (energy, total food and/or nutrient intake, nutritional quality)
- Purchasing behaviour or sales data
- Nutrient and calorie content of available foods
- Exposure to marketing of FNAB, when relevant
- Anthropometric outcomes (BMI, weight/height, height/age, etc.)
- Behaviours related to healthy dietary habits
- Educational outcomes (school absenteeism, educational attainment, school achievement)
- Micronutrient status
- Prices of available foods
- Portion sizes served or sold
- Attitudes towards food
- Blood glucose, Blood lipids (TC, LDL-C, HDL-C, TG), Blood pressure
- Morbidity (e.g. caries)
Acceptable types of studies include, but are not limited to:
- Randomized controlled trials
- Cluster randomized controlled trials
- Controlled before-after studies
- Interrupted time-series studies (uncontrolled or controlled with at least three data points before and after a clearly defined intervention (in terms of content and timing).
- Prospective controlled cohort studies
- Qualitative studies, process evaluations or policy analyses may also be submitted
When submitting data, please provide as much analytical and descriptive information as possible, including the following:
- Identity and affiliation of the author(s) of the evaluation/analysis
- Date of evaluation/analysis
- Characteristics of the population (e.g. age-group, sample size, setting)
- Description of the policy intervention (e.g. mandatory vs voluntary, national or subnational)
- Detailed description of methodologies
- Outcomes assessed
If submitting an evaluation or analysis that has been published in a peer-reviewed journal, please provide bibliographic information.
Data must be submitted by 20 June 2020 to be considered for inclusion in the on-going systematic review which is scheduled to be completed by October 2020. Data must be submitted through the online submission form athttps://extranet.who.int/dataform/857866?lang=en. Detailed instructions for submitting data are provided in the online form. Data submitted by email or in hard copy will not be considered.
This call for data can also be viewed online at https://www.who.int/news-room/articles-detail/call-for-data-on-nutrition-school-food-environment-2020.
Questions regarding the call for data should be addressed to NPUinfo@who.int.
FAO Director-General QU Dongyu has thanked the Russian Federation for boosting the fight against the Desert Locust outbreak in East Africa by making a $10 million contribution to support FAO operations in Ethiopia, Kenya, South Sudan and Uganda.
In this interview, we speak with Coumba Sow, FAO Resilience Coordinator for West Africa, about the COVID-19 pandemic and what it could mean for millions of people already grappling with hunger and conflict in West Africa.
24-25 April 2020
Göttingen
The Fourth GlobalFood Symposium will be held on 24-25 April 2020 in Göttingen. The aim of this Symposium is to discuss new research findings and policy challenges related to the global agri-food system transformation. The two-day conference will feature plenary sessions with invited speakers, contributed paper sessions, and posters. Confirmed speakers include Jessica Aschemann-Witzel (Denmark), Chris Barrett (USA), Jessica Fanzo (USA), Jill Hobbs (Canada), Prabhu Pingali (USA), Catherine Ragasa (USA), Tom Reardon (USA), Lucia Reisch (Denmark), Jo Swinnen (USA), and Rob Vos (USA).
Registration is now open!
For registration, please follow this link.
For further details please follow this link.
The Conference Program (Preliminary Version) can be found here.
Global agri-food systems are undergoing a rapid transformation, involving new food standards, new technologies, novel forms of vertical coordination, changing consumer preferences, and various other trends. The ramifications for trade flows, industry structure, competitiveness, social welfare, and the environment may be far-reaching but are not yet well understood. Developing countries in particular face technical and institutional constraints, potentially impeding successful participation in emerging value chains. This may have implications for poverty, food security, nutrition, and sustainable development.
The GlobalFood Program at the University of Göttingen carries out research along these lines in collaboration with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and other partners.
23 April 2020, 10:00 AM in Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join the second edition of FAO Insights, featuring Anna Lartey, Director of the Nutrition and Food Systems Division, FAO, to talk about nutrition in the time of COVID-19. The pandemic is causing many changes in the daily lives of people around the world, but there are things that can be done to maintain a healthy lifestyle in these difficult times. Register to learn how the pandemic can impact our food systems and how to maintain a healthy diet during COVID-19.
FAO Insights is a new webinar series presented by FAO North America to share FAO’s knowledge and expertise with policymakers, farmers and other stakeholders in North America and beyond.
FAO is publishing, in partnership with French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD France) El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) effects on fisheries and aquaculture.
“Preserving access to safe food and nutrition is an essential part of the health response,” FAO's DG said, speaking on behalf of the RBAs to the Extraordinary Virtual G20 Agriculture Ministers’ Meeting on Food Security and Nutrition held today by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
The Global Report on Food Crises is the result of a joint, consensus-based assessment of acute food insecurity situations around the world by 16 partner organizations.
It is facilitated by the Food Security Information Network, which provides the core coordination and technical support to pillar 1 of the Global Network Against Food Crises’s.
The report tracks the numbers and locations of acutely food-insecure people most in need of emergency food, nutrition and livelihood assistance during the peak or worst point in 2019.
More information available here
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to dramatic loss of human life across the world and presents an unprecedented challenge with deep social and economic consequences, including compromising food security and nutrition. Responses need to be well coordinated across the world, including by the G20 and beyond, to limit impacts, end the pandemic, and prevent its recurrence.
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