The World Food Policy Report 2024 highlights u

Washington DC, May 29, 2024: Given the growing challenges of unhealthy diets, all forms of malnutrition, and environmental constraints, 2024 Report on World Food Policy (GFPR) — released today by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) — emphasizes the importance of transforming complex global food systems to ensure healthy, sustainable diets for all.

Progress in reducing undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies has slowed in low- and middle-income countries, and overweight and obesity have increased rapidly worldwide. Many countries face the double burden of malnutrition – meaning that undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies coexist with overweight and obesity, or non-communicable diet-related diseases (NCDs), within individuals, of families and communities, and throughout life. At the same time, there is an urgent need to transform food systems to reduce their significant impact on the environment.

“To achieve our ambitious global development goals on diets and nutrition, we need innovative research across the food system that informs and supports equity impacts at scale. People and the planet are at the heart of our efforts, so our research and action priorities focus on understanding how to make sustainable healthy diets aspirational, affordable and accessible for all,” said Ismahane Elouafi, Executive Managing Director, CGIAR.

The IS 2024 GFPR: Food Systems for Healthy Diets and Nutrition, co-authored by 41 researchers representing IFPRI and several partner organizations, calls for urgent and concerted efforts to transform global food systems to ensure equitable access to healthy, sustainable diets for all. Improving diets is a global imperative that will require addressing multiple issues across food systems to achieve meaningful and sustainable changes in diets and, in turn, nutrition and health outcomes.

“Evidence suggests that poor quality diets are the main cause of disease worldwide and that one in five people could be saved by improving diets. Therefore, it is imperative that we prioritize improving diets as a critical entry point to address all forms of malnutrition and diet-related NCDs,” added Deanna Olney, Director of IFPRI’s Nutrition, Diets and Health Unit and the main author of the report emphasized.

GFPR 2024 emphasizes the need to healthy and sustainable diets and provides evidence-based recommendations for ways to make the foods from those diets more desirable, affordable, accessible and available while considering environmental impacts. This holistic approach recognizes the interplay between dietary patterns, food environments, food production, food-related policies, and wider societal and environmental factors.

“Our research estimates that more than 2 billion people, many of them in Africa and South Asia, cannot afford a healthy diet. According to FAO, more than half of children under five years of age and two thirds of adult women are affected by micronutrient deficiencies. GFPR 2024 serves as a clarion call to prioritize healthy, sustainable diets as the cornerstone of public health and sustainable development,” said Johan Swiinnen, Director General, IFPRI and Managing Director, System Transformation, CGIAR.

The report draws on a comprehensive food system framework to recommend transformative actions. “By addressing demand-side challenges, such as affordability and consumer preferences, as well as improving food environments and addressing supply issues to improve the availability of nutritious foods, we can create healthy, sustainable diets verification,” said Purnima Menon, Senior Director, Food and Nutrition Policy, CGIAR and IFPRI, who contributed significantly to the report.

The report highlights the need for collaborative efforts, innovative interventions, food system approaches, and sound policies and governance to overcome the complex challenges facing global food systems. As nations strive to meet the malnutrition targets necessary to achieve UN Sustainable Development Goal 2, GFPR 2024 highlights the need for accelerated action, robust financing mechanisms, and evidence-based policy-making to achieve lasting impact.

GFPR 2024 is an important contribution to the global dialogue on food security, public health and sustainable development, providing a roadmap for the transformative change needed by global food systems to ensure healthy, sustainable diets and nutrition for all.

Read the report I read a summary (Eng) I read a summary (Fr) I Visit the interactive GFPR 2024 webpage

Recommended citation: International Food Policy Research Institute. 2024. Global Food Policy Report 2024: Food Systems for Healthy Diets and Nutrition. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/141760