Children at Mulanda Primary School
Fighting Stunting with Resilient Food Systems
Interdisciplinary Approach
I think there’s growing success for sure in terms of putting interdisciplinary people together and really letting things happen based on interactions that haven’t happened before.
Alfred G. Gilman, 1994 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine
We dive deep into the intricacies of food systems to understand their role in combating food and nutrition insecurity. We focus on nutrient-dense foods - like fruits, vegetables, and animal-source foods.
By understanding and leveraging market-based interventions, we aim to improve the accessibility and availability of these foods, boosting the diet and overall nutrition of pregnant and lactating women and, of course, our little champions - the children.
How are we doing it?
The overarching goal of the Food Systems theme of the Hub is to develop and analyse the potential of locally relevant and tailored market interventions to promote the intake of vital nutrient-dense foods, such as animal-source foods, fruits, vegetables, and legumes, to improve diet quality all year for women and children in the first 1,000 days.
The food systems research study under the Hub is comprised of three elements:
- An exploration of the food environments of mothers and children in UKRI-GCRF Action Against Stunting Hub cohort sites in India, Indonesia, and Senegal ;
- an exploration of balanced diets using linear programming tools across three known critical periods significant to stunting: pregnancy, the neonatal period, and the weaning period ;
- and linked to this is a broader mixed-methods exploration of the local food system, from the role of animal source foods to food access, safety, and availability from both a household and market perspective, value chains, dietary preferences, and consumer behaviour.
Through our work in the food systems workstream, we aim to design a food environment metric that identifies levers for interventions in the food system and food environment. We will create the metric for policymakers and researchers to inform the design of interventions.
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT OUR FOOD SYSTEMS WORK
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE ROLE OF CLIMATE-RESILIENT MARKET SYSTEMS IN TRANSFORMING ACCESS TO NUTRIENT-DENSE FOODS
LEARN MORE ABOUT MEASURING CHILD DEVELOPMENT IN LMICs
UPCOMING EVENTS
