Achieving a nutrition revolution for Africa: The road to healthier diets and optimal nutrition
This report (PDF) by IFPRI dealt with opportunities for making Africa’s food system deliver healthier and more nutritious, making these foods more available and affordable to all people, and promoting better food consumption patterns as African economies develop. It presents information and analysis in support of evidence-based policy making that should inform the second generation of CAADP national investment plans now being developed. These investment plans should address not only the usual elements of undernutrition but also widespread micronutrient deficiencies (termed “hidden hunger”) and the growing problem of overweight and obesity that is associated with economic growth. In this report the authors make recommendations to start the ‘food revolution’. To make agricultural policy and practice more nutrition-sensitive there is a need to review the agriculture, food, and trade policies to identify reforms necessary to stimulate the local supply and demand of healthy nutritious foods and discourage the consumption of unhealthy foods and food waste. More recommendations are given for achieving the goals of the Malabo Declarations on (1) accelerated agricultural growth and transformation for shared prosperity and improved livelihoods and (2) nutrition security through inclusive economic growth and sustainable development. This is an important moment for shaping the region’s future and ensuring that the much-needed agriculture-led growth and development agenda can simultaneously deliver on improving nutrition, saving lives, improving productivity and health, and curbing nutrition-related diseases and the associated public health expenditures.