On Friday 28th, the projects team from the World Food Programme (WFP) Centre of Excellence against Hunger in Brazil met with the teams from the General Coordination of Food and Nutrition (CGAN) and the Department of Health Promotion (DEPROS) of the Ministry of Health, and with the Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC), in order to present the results achieved during the implementation of the Nurture the Future Project, as well as to discuss new activities that will be proposed for the extension of the Project.
The first years of the Nurture the Future Project focused on the multiple burden of malnutrition, i.e. how the problems of overweight, obesity and malnutrition affect the same person throughout their life. The multiple burden has a negative impact on health, productivity and economically compromises individuals, their families and society, perpetuating a cycle of poverty and disease. The impacts of the multiple burden can be more intense if social aspects (isolated and associated) such as income, race, schooling and gender are taken into account.
Tackling it, as well as maintaining healthy food environments and sustainable food systems requires integrated approaches, some of which are: investment to raise agricultural productivity; improving access to inputs, land, services, technologies and markets for small farmers; measures to promote rural development; improving social protection for the most vulnerable, including strengthening their resilience to conflicts and natural disasters; consolidating governance and nutritional surveillance equipment; policies and programmes aimed at nutrition and health promotion.
The project also focuses on disease prevention through adequate nutrition, with the aim of correcting micronutrient deficiencies in mothers and children under five, as well as promoting food and nutrition education for the population throughout their lives. With the aim of eliminating the effects of the multiple burden of malnutrition, the Nurture the Future Project has developed materials containing recommendations, good practices and solutions for tackling the issue. The launch of the products was also on the agenda of the meeting.
In its new phase, the project intends to work in Colombia, Peru and other countries in the Global South that aim to address the following issues: nutritional surveillance based on data management; public nutrition programmes for schoolchildren; restrictions on advertising and merchandising aimed at the consumption of ultra-processed foods; nutritional micro-deficiencies; and intersectorality associated with food and nutrition.
The Nurture the Future Project is the result of a partnership between the Ministry of Health, the WFP Centre of Excellence and ABC, and aims to promote adequate and healthy nutrition among school-age children in countries through South-South Cooperation.