2.0b can't afford healthy diet globally: IFPRI report

An international report released on Thursday emphasised urgent need for transformative actions to ensure sustainable and healthy diets for all.

Co-authored by 41 researchers from the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and partner organisations, the 2024 Global Food Policy Report: Food Systems for Healthy Diets and Nutrition was launched at a South Asia regional event in Kathmandu, Nepal.

The event was organised in collaboration with the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), and the Institute for Integrated Development Studies (IIDS) in Nepal, with a focus on enhancing food security and transforming food systems in the region.

The report highlights a slowdown in progress on reducing undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies in low- and middle-income countries, while observing a rapid rise in overweight and obesity rates.

This double burden of malnutrition-where undernutrition coexists with diet-related noncommunicable diseases (NCDs)-poses significant global health challenges.

The report also stresses that food systems are major contributors to greenhouse gas emissions and environmental degradation, urging their transformation to reduce environmental impacts while ensuring food security.

The report estimates that over 2 billion people globally, including many in South Asia, cannot afford a healthy diet, making it crucial to address affordability and accessibility to improve nutrition outcomes.

Malnutrition remains a critical issue in South Asia, with high rates of stunting and wasting in children. Reflecting on Nepal's progress, Hon'ble Minister of Health and Population, Mr. Pradip Poudel, noted, "As per the Nepal Demographic and Health Survey 2022, there has been a remarkable decrease in child mortality rate and stunting went down from 57 per cent in 2001 to 25 per cent in 2022."

However, he added, "Despite the progress, a majority of women and child population still consume unhealthy foods. The food systems have an important role in delivering high-quality diet to people, and we need to review our food systems strategies and programming linkages within the health system."

The report identifies poor diet quality as a major driver of malnutrition in the region.

Highlighting IFPRI's extensive work on health and nutrition in the region, Dr. Johan Swinnen, Director General of IFPRI and Managing Director of Systems Transformation at CGIAR, stated, "It is now up to all of us to work to take this knowledge forward and invest in and implement what we have learned on what is most effective. For this, we need to tackle four entry points: availability, accessibility, affordability, and desirability. We need to tackle all these entry points to achieve sustainable healthy diets for all."

Reflecting on the region's transformation from food scarcity to surplus, Dr. Shahidur Rashid, Director - South Asia Region, IFPRI, emphasized, "An inclusive economic growth will only happen when the population is nourished."

The report calls for a comprehensive approach to transform food systems and improve diet quality worldwide.

Key recommendations include implementing crop-neutral policies that promote the production and consumption of diverse, nutrient-rich foods, adjusting agricultural subsidies, and enhancing social safety net programs.

In her remarks, Dr. Geertrui Louwagie, Deputy Head of Cooperation at the Delegation of the European Union to Nepal, said, "While the determinants of malnutrition are diverse, without improvement in the quality of diets and increased equality in distribution of food (with special attention to gender), reduction of malnutrition will not be fast enough to achieve the SDG targets.

The report also underscores the importance of strengthening governance and fostering collaboration among government agencies, the private sector, and civil society to create an enabling environment for sustainable healthy diets.

Mr. Niels Balzer, Deputy Country Director at World Food Programme, Nepal, emphasized the need to upscale and improve the availability of fortified varieties to address micronutrient deficiencies.

He added, "Along with government involvement, we need to bring the private sector onboard to lead the fortification efforts, so we find these products in our supermarkets and urban retail complexes, and not just in rural areas or fair price shops."

Commending the report research team, Dr. Hari Bahadur K C, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, Government of Nepal, remarked, "This report has provided profound insights into the status of food and nutrition security and the way forward for necessary policy infrastructure for the future."

Dr. Biswash Gauchan, Executive Director of IIDS, added, "The 2024 Global Food Policy Report serves as a call for urgent and concerted efforts to transform global food systems to improve nutrition and health outcomes. It provides insights for making sustainable healthy diets aspirational, affordable, and accessible for all, and addresses both demand-side and supply-side challenges."

Dr. Purnima Menon, Senior Director, Food and Nutrition Policy, CGIAR and IFPRI, wo led the development of the report and Dr. Avinash Kishore, Senior Research Fellow, IFPRI, the author of the report's South Asia chapter, were also part of the inaugural and presented key findings and recommendations from the report (PFA).

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