Event summary blog
By Mariam Dawoud and Ganna Hassan
Introduction:
The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) 2024 Global Food Policy Report (GFPR)outlines strategies to improve diet quality and nutrition in low-and middle-income countries. It highlights the necessity for diets that are beneficial for both individuals and the environment, examining demand-side strategies, cost-effectiveness, and the enhancement of food environments.. The report serves as a platform to address the pressing challenges faced by the world today, underscoring the significance of healthy diets in combating all forms of malnutrition. Malnutrition remains a major issue, significantly affecting children and leading to conditions such as obesity and various diseases. Its effects are felt both in the short and long term, resulting in numerous deaths attributed to malnutrition. In recent years, there has been a growing commitment to improving nutrition. Accordingly, the report seeks to identify sustainable, healthy diets—those that provide essential nutrients for a healthy life while also considering environmental impacts.
Opening Remarks:
Dr. Sikandra Kurdi, Research Fellow and Country Program Leader of IFPRI Egypt, acknowledged IFPRI’s role in providing policy-oriented public research aiming at reducing poverty, hunger and malnutrition. Hence, IFPRI-Egypt office has worked on research on social protection programing, investment planning, food subsidies policies, climate adaptation, and agriculture digitalization.
Similar to other regions worldwide, the MENA region has experienced global trade disruptions that led to inflation in food systems and affected the affordability of healthy food diets. This year’s GRPR)focuses on nutrition.
Takeaways from the 2024 GFPR
Dr. Purnima Menon, Senior Director for Food and Nutrition Policy, explained the important role of nutrition, diets, and health. Global commitment to improving nutrition has risen in recognition of the potential of healthy diets to improve human and planetary well-being. The 2024 GFPR examines approaches to addressing poor diets and nutrition from the demand and supply sides and through better governance. Healthy diets provide the nutrients needed for an active, healthy life. Diets in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), which are often heavily cereal-based, are rapidly evolving to include higher consumption of ultra-processed foods, and overconsumption of animal source foods (ASFs) — although many vulnerable populations who could benefit from increased intake of ASFs still have inadequate access.
Dr. Purnima further explained that the consumption of healthy food is lagging the consumption of other commodities, highlighting the challenges to sustainable healthy diets which vary between:
- Desirability: Food choices are driven by a complex interplay of a person's cognition, environment, and behavior. Thus, even when diverse, healthy foods are available, accessible, and affordable, people often do not choose healthy diets.
- Affordability: Low income coupled with high costs of safe and diverse healthy foods make healthy diets unaffordable for at least 2 billion people worldwide.
- Accessibility: Consumers are often not close enough to healthy and affordable food.
- Availability: Insufficient year-round availability of diverse fruits and vegetables means high costs and hard-to-find sources.
Approaches to increase demand must start with increased understanding of dietary patterns and their drivers. This could include social, and behavior change communication (SBC) to address the affordability of healthy diets in addition to multisectoral programs such as nutrition programs. It is also important to address the affordability of healthy diets. Poverty is a primary factor limiting diets especially across Asia and Africa: between 2 and 3 million people cannot afford a healthy diet since nutrient-dense foods are relatively more expensive than calorie-dense foods.
Therefore, to transition toward healthier options, we need to:
- Improve national and subnational monitoring of healthy diet affordability,
- Accelerate equitable economic growth,
- Scale and strengthen nutrition-sensitive social protection,
- Repurpose agricultural policies toward nutritious foods and infrastructure.
“Food environments play a central role in leveraging food systems for sustainable healthy diets”, elucidated Dr. Purnima, pointing out to the actions needed to support healthy food environments. This includes implementing the necessary policies and regulations to support food environments and mobilize funds for investments in crop diversity to improve nutrition.
Dr. Purnima concluded her keynote presentation by shedding light on the fact that there is no single intervention, approach, or policy can accomplish the change we need. To achieve sustainable healthy diets, context-relevant actions must be interlinked across the food system and supported by good governance.
Dr. Sikandra Kurdi, Research Fellow and Country Program Leader of IFPRI Egypt, and Mr Mohsen Sarhan, CEO of Egyptian Food Bank, highlighted in the study “Regional Developments Middle East and North Africa” that the trends in food security and nutrition are affected by the inflation and spikes in food and fuel prices in MENA have disrupted domestic food systems, affecting the accessibility and affordability of nutritious diets. The shocks triggered by the Russia-Ukraine war came at a crucial juncture, as the region is experiencing a rise in the double burden of malnutrition. The MENA region’s heavy dependence on food imports leaves it particularly vulnerable to world food prices and trade shocks. Moreover, high vulnerability to climate change and growing water scarcity which intersects with conflict threatens long-term security. Political instability (Gaza, Sudan, Yemen, Iraq) is the majority of undernourished are in conflict-affected countries.
Furthermore, food price inflation threatens the affordability of nutritious diets. Poor households that are net food consumers are most affected and shift towards calorie dense foods, atrend that interacts with existing food subsidy policy.
‘Egyptian Food Bank (EFB) recent focus on research and dietary quality outcomes is an example in the region’ explained Mr. Mohsen who also highlighted that nutrition must be the center of policy discussions. For instance, trade regulations can help control food prices.
In conclusion, countries need to diversify food consumption and production to reduce reliance on imported staple calories. In addition, strengthening social protection is key for shielding vulnerable groups from food price inflation. Continued research collaboration bringing together nutritionists, economists, private sector, national NGOs, international NGOs, and government to provide context-specific policy-relevant evidence on what works’ stated Mr. Mohsen.
In this regard, the seminar entailed a panel discussion tackling healthy nutritious diets Professor Sherine Al-Shawarby, Vice Dean at Nile University Business School, underscored the significance of the GFPR and Egypt's involvement in national initiatives addressing healthy diets. However, there is limited information available about the national programs addressing food security. She emphasized that governance is a cross-cutting theme and noted that while Egypt has issued the National Food and Nutrition Strategy (2022-2030), it remains inaccessible to the public. Professor Sherine also highlighted the government's efforts in establishing a regulation to form the National Committee on Food and Nutrition Systems. This committee, composed of representatives from various ministries and experts from international organizations, aims to develop a national sustainable system for food and nutrition to achieve food security in Egypt by 2030.
Building upon the discussion, Mr. Moataz Saleh, Nutrition Specialist at UNICEF Egypt Country Office, explained that social media platforms do not showcase healthy diets as desirable thing, for the private sector to market their products. He further stated that his organization needs the contribution of the private sector and media channels to market healthy food.
‘Analyzing the food consumption and people’s choices is crucial to focus on healthy diets’ stated Dr. Sahar Khairy, Director at National Nutrition Institute (NNI). She explained that assessing individuals’ dietary pattern gives us a broader picture of micronutrient imbalances which impact their health.
Furthermore, Yomna Mohamed, Head of Experimentation at UNDP Accelerator Lab elaborated on the importance of implementing strategies to strengthen socio-economic resilience of local communicates impacted by climate change. She stated that innovation is crucial to achieving the balance between sustainable diet for individuals and sustainability for the environment, shedding light on the importance of effectively using technology to improve our food systems.
From a supply side perspective, Adeeb Qassem, Director of the Economic Development Initiative at HSA Group, explained that his organization started looking at their supply chains and how they should respond to difficulties when working in conflict-affected regions.
Moreover, Aliaa Ahmed, Senior Manager at EFB, elaborated on the intersection between climate change, food security, food policies and the role of the civil society. She elucidated the importance of engaging youth in policy discussions to find innovative solutions for climate change and its impact on food policies.
Following the panel discussion, experts on the SFPs intervened during a Q&A session, where attendees engaged in a robust discussion delving into various aspects of the report. A key focus was the Egyptian chapter, particularly the impact of cash transfers on the Tamween food subsidy program. While behavioral changes in food consumption are possible, transitioning all programs to cash transfers or altering ration cards is not feasible. Ration cards should be restricted to healthy diets, excluding non-food items like soap and coffee. Unlike targeted social safety nets like Takaful and Karama, the Tamween program lacks a clear eligibility criterion for the poor. Therefore, accessible data and government clarity are essential. In addition, the panelists delved into the complexities of food behavior change communication, emphasizing the importance of targeted messaging and budget considerations. They highlighted the effectiveness of combining nutrition-sensitive social safety nets with information influencing dietary choices.
Concluding Remarks:
The event concluded with a lively Q&A session, delving into various aspects of the report. To address funding challenges, the platform advocated for increased private sector involvement in school food programs, which primarily serve disadvantaged families. Additionally, the media was urged to play a crucial role in promoting healthy nutrient diets for all ages and social groups. Tailored communication strategies are necessary to reach each target audience effectively.
Understanding family food decision-making dynamics is crucial for identifying preferred food types. The panelists discussed the sustainability of the Tamween food subsidy program, which is reliant on government funding and intervention. Cash transfer programs offer flexibility but require careful monitoring to ensure purchases are limited to healthy nutrition products. The panelists underscored the vital role of civil society and government food security programs in supporting vulnerable communities. Schools' food programs are a priority for EFB to promote a healthier future. The platform emphasized the need for interventions to raise community awareness about nutrition-sensitive food choices within cash transfer programs. Food availability and accessibility are influenced by the country's economic situation, impacting the effectiveness of safety net packages. A key recommendation from the report is to encourage people to understand their food's origin and make informed choices. Analyzing gender dynamics, food costs, time constraints, and household factors can provide insights into food decision-making processes. Economic development is essential for improving food choices and reducing poverty.
