Micronutrient malnutrition remains a significant challenge in Indonesia, particularly among impoverished populations who struggle to afford and access nutrient-rich foods. Iron deficiency anemia is especially concerning, affecting 48.9% of pregnant women and 38.5% of children across the country. To address these gaps, the Ministry of Health, in collaboration with the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), conducted a comprehensive Micronutrient Gap Assessment (MGA). This assessment aimed to evaluate micronutrient intake levels among Indonesians and identify the potential benefits of rice fortification in meeting recommended dietary requirements.
Overreliance on a few main crops, as well as poor soil health, reduce yields, hinder achievement of food security and nutrition objectives, and increase agricultural vulnerability to climate change. To address this, the Vision for Adapted Crops and Soils (VACS), launched by the United States in partnership with FAO and the African Union, and as part of the whole-of-government Feed the Future initiative, seeks to support soil health as well as breeding of traditional and indigenous crops in Africa.
Foodborne disease is a major global health challenge, causing millions of illnesses every year – mostly in low- and middle-income countries – and hindering achievement of other global goals, such as improved nutrition. Since contamination of food can happen at any point ‘from farm to fork’, reducing the burden of foodborne illness requires a whole-of-food-system approach: one that considers all actors and activities that play a role in production, processing, distribution, preparation, and consumption of food. The objective of this paper is to discuss how to enact such a food system approach to food safety, with a focus on LMICs.
To successfully execute Bangladesh’s National Pathway for the Sustainable, Equitable and Resilient Food Systems Transformation, it is conducive for all actors in the food system to have consistent and easy-to-access data for informed decision-making. To meet this need, the Government of Bangladesh and the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) in collaboration with the Columbia Climate School, FAO, different ministries including Prime Minister’s Office, Ministry of Planning, Ministry of Agriculture, and other relevant ministries, departments, agencies, development partners, academia, and private sector developed the Bangladesh Food Systems Dashboard (BDFSD) integrating national and subnational level data.
GAIN Kenya has been working towards improving the nutrition and health status of Kenyans with support from donors, government, the private sector and other stakeholders. These efforts have culminated in increased policy influence in counties, development of the Food Fortification Strategic Plan 2018-2022 and the establishment of Food Safety Coordination Committee in Counties.
In 2023, Criterion Institute and UNICEF partnered to develop child lens investing: an emerging field that intentionally integrates considerations of child rights and wellbeing into investment processes. Understanding is growing of the opportunity that exists for increasing economic, social, and environmental impact by considering children when making investments.
In a perfect world, functional food systems would provide multiple benefits for everyone, including healthy diets, environmental sustainability, and improved livelihoods . Unfortunately, we live in a far from perfect world. Over three billion people cannot afford a healthy diet, some 735 million people face hunger, and obesity rates are on the rise .
As countries develop their National Pathways for food systems transformation, one emerging need is to
ensure policies land at different levels. A truly effective ‘national’ policy must span all sub-national areas.
The ‘Pakistan Food Systems Dashboard’ is an initiative that bridges this gap through credible national, city, and district data across a range of key food systems indicators.
The Kenya Food Systems Dashboard, unveiled in February 2024 and managed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, brings together much-needed data to support this food systems transformation. It includes an overview of Kenya’s food system, offering valuable insights into both opportunities and challenges.
