Search

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) commissioned the Centre for Food Policy at City, University of London and collaborative partners to carry out a Rapid Evidence Assessment (REA) on UK citizen perceptions of food sustainability. This Executive Summary presents the findings of this REA, along with academic definitions of food sustainability (and how citizen definitions compare to these), and a rapid review of industry and NGO approaches to sustainability amongst a small random selection of 21 organisations across the food system. Please refer to the full report and appendices for detailed findings and methodology.\ud \ud The main research question addressed is: What does sustainability mean to UK citizens when it comes to food and diet? The report addresses the following secondary questions: How does the UK academic literature define sustainability, ‘sustainable food’ and ‘sustainable diet’?, how do citizens’ perceptions compare to this, and ‘What does sustainability mean to industry when it comes to food and diet?’. 'A number of sub-questions and themes were explored to answer the main research question, such as understanding and importance of sustainability and its impact on food choices, trade-offs, drivers and barriers to sustainable food choices and differences across demographic groups.\ud \ud To note: In this Executive Summary we refer to communities and individuals in the UK as “UK citizens”, rather than UK consumers. The use of the term citizen is not meant to be a reference to citizenship either directly via birth in the UK or through the process of naturalization.

Context\ud \ud There is growing recognition that food systems must adapt to become more sustainable and equitable. Consequently, in developing country contexts, there is increasing momentum away from traditional producer-facing value chain upgrades towards efforts to increase both the availability and affordability of nutritious foods at the consumer level. However, such goals must navigate the inherent complexities of agricultural value chains, which involve multiple interactions, feedbacks and unintended consequences, including important but often surprising trade-offs between producers and consumers.\ud \ud \ud Objective and methods\ud \ud Based around the 'Loop' horticultural aggregation scheme of Digital Green in Bihar, India, we develop a system dynamics modelling framework to survey the value chain trade-offs emerging from upgrades that aim to improve the availability of fruits and vegetables in small retail-oriented markets. We model the processes of horticultural production, aggregation, marketing, and retailing – searching for futures that are ‘win-win-win’ for: (i) the availability of fruits and vegetables in small retail markets, (ii) the profits of farmers participating in aggregation, and (iii) the sustainability of the initial scheme for Digital Green as an organisation. We simulate two internal upgrades to aggregation and two upgrades to the wider enabling environment through a series of 5000 Monte Carlo trajectories – designed to explore the plausible future dynamics of the three outcome dimensions relative to the baseline.\ud \ud \ud Results\ud \ud We find that ‘win-win-win’ futures cannot be achieved by internal changes to the aggregation scheme alone, emerging under a narrow range of scenarios that boost supplies to the small retail market whilst simultaneously supporting the financial takeaways of farmers. In contrast, undesirable producer versus consumer trade-offs emerge as unintended consequences of scaling-up aggregation and the introduction of market-based cold storage.\ud \ud \ud Significance\ud \ud This approach furthers ongoing efforts to capture complex value chain processes, outcomes and upgrades within system dynamics modelling frameworks, before scanning the horizon of plausible external scenarios, internal dynamics and unintended trade-offs to identify ‘win-win-win’ futures for all.

•Unique dataset allows analysis of urban Indian shopping habits of processed foods.•Beyond staples, purchases of processed foods and beverages for home use are low.•Fastest rate of growth seen in sweet and salty snacks, and edible oil purchases.•Highest volume of processed foods and beverages purchased by Delhi population.•Large variations across states in level and trends of purchases over time.

We evaluated the effectiveness of short-term cash and food assistance to improve adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) and retention in care among people living with HIV in Tanzania. At three clinics, 805 participants were randomized to three groups in a 3 : 3 : 1 ratio, stratified by site : nutrition assessment and counseling (NAC) and cash transfers (∼$11/month, n = 347), NAC and food baskets (n = 345), and NAC-only (comparison group, n = 113, clinicaltrials.gov NCT01957917). Eligible people living with HIV were at least 18 years, initiated ART 90 days or less prior, and food insecure. Cash or food was provided for 6 or less consecutive months, conditional on visit attendance. The primary outcome was medication possession ratio (MPR) at least 95% at 6 months. Secondary outcomes were appointment attendance and loss to follow-up (LTFU) at 6 and 12 months. The primary intent-to-treat analysis included 800 participants. Achievement of MPR at least 95% at 6 months was higher in the NAC + cash group compared with NAC-only (85.0 vs. 63.4%), a 21.6 percentage point difference [95% confidence interval (CI): 9.8, 33.4, P

In 2013 the USAID Global Health Bureau asked the SPRING project to collaborate with the Resilience and Economic Growth in the Sahel - Enhanced Resilience (REGIS-ER) project in providing support for maternal infant and young child nutrition-related and hygiene-related social and behavior change communication. In light of an earlier successful collaboration between SPRING and Digital Green in India (Odisha) SPRING decided that the community video approach used by Digital Green could be tested for use in the resilience context of the Sahel. USAID emphasized the need to include not only REGIS-ER into the proof of concept but also other interested Food for Peace partners such as the Livelihoods Agriculture and Health Interventions in Action project and the Sawki project to strengthen their SBCC work in the field of MIYCN. Before developing the formative research protocol SPRING conducted a situational analysis in September 2014 using available published and unpublished reports and other program documents related to nutrition water sanitation and hygiene livelihoods family planning and gender practices in Niger focusing on the Maradi region. The partners selected four existing community groups in each one of the 20 villages to disseminate videos which were planned for production at a later stage. A situational analysis and formative research was to inform the content of the videos to be filmed in the commune of Guidan Roumdji and disseminated in the communes of Guidan Roumdji and Aguie. The formative research was designed to fill the gaps highlighted in the situation analysis for Maradi. Eight priority topics for videos were highlighted as a result of the formative research: Women’s nutrition in the first 1000 days Exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months Complementary feeding Continued breastfeeding through at least 24 months Diarrhea and malaria prevention and management Handwashing Use of family planning services Use of maternal health services. For each topic a set of recommended behaviors and their respective micro-behaviors were identified. A series of videos are planned on these priority topics and behaviors articulating the barriers and motivators for each recommended practice. (Excerpts)

India is home to one-third of the world’s malnourished children. This figure that remains stubbornly high, despite the country having the second-fastest growing economy in the world, with agriculture accounting for a significant part of that growth. Agriculture continues to be the primary source of livelihood for the majority of nutritionally vulnerable households in India. In order to maximize the nutrition-sensitivity of agriculture, we need to first map existing evidence of the various links, pathways and disconnects between agriculture and nutrition. We start with a narrative review of the background literature for India, including an assessment of trends in nutrition and agriculture indicators. A conceptual framework is then put forward to aid in the systematic search for links and disconnects, delineating seven key pathways between agriculture and nutrition. Evidence is then mapped to these pathways through a summary of the literature for each pathway as well as a fully annotated bibliography. A data audit assesses gaps and overlaps in survey data containing information on agriculture and nutrition indicators, on which future analyses could be built. Overall, the authors find that the conceptual framework is useful in this process, and conclude that there are some significant gaps in the literature and in the data currently available to analyze linkages between agriculture and nutrition. Data and policy disconnects need to be bridged to enhance the nutrition sensitivity of agriculture in India.

While TB and malaria are currently the number one killers in India, inaction could make AIDS the leading cause of death. A decade after setting up the National AIDS Control Organisation, the nation is still debating the accuracy of HIV/AIDS statistics. Are current responses adequate to stem the spread of the disease?

A processing technique based on the principle of phase separation was developed to fabricate three-dimensional microcellular foams to act as templates for cell transplantation. The polymers used to make the foams were polylactic acid (PLLA) and a polyphosphoester (BPA/PP). The resulting foams had relatively uniform, open cells throughout the matrix. The foams could also be fabricated into complex shapes to meet specific design requirements. The foam morphology and microstructure were characterized by mercury porosimetry and scanning electron microscopy. Osteoblast like cells ROS17/2.8 were successfully cultured in the foams. Cell attachment to the foam interior was verified by confocal microscopy. The fabrication technique allows incorporation of drugs or nutrients into the highly porous structure as demonstrated by the intimate dispersion of fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) in the matrix.