Landscape analysis – Assessing countries' readiness to scale up nutrition actions in the WHO African region

The purpose of this paper is to describe the use of the Landscape Analysis to assess strengths and weaknesses in combating malnutrition in Sub-Saharan Africa. The Landscape Analysis is an inter-agency initiative to assess gaps and constraints and to identify opportunities for effective nutrition actions in order to accelerate intersectoral action for improving nutrition. In-depth Country Assessments to evaluate countries' "readiness" to scale up nutrition action have been conducted since 2008 in Sub-Saharan Africa. "Readiness" was assessed in terms of the  commitment and capacity of each country and the focus was high stunting burden countries. The main focus was countries with heavy burden of undernutrition. From 2008 to September 2011, a total of 14 countries had undertaken the Landscape Analysis Country Assessment. Nine of them were in Africa: Burkina Faso, Comoros, Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique, and South Africa. Three additionalcountries (Guinea, Namibia and Tanzania) were also planning to complete the Landscape Analysis Country Assessment in early 2012.From the findings in the nine countries, the following recommendations have beenmade:• Existing nutrition architectures and coordination mechanisms should bestrengthened and better utilized;• Nutrition needs to be mainstreamed and integrated in relevant sector policies;• Advocacy at high levels is needed to highlight the importance of the lifecourseperspective, focusing particularly on nutrition interventions frompreconception until the first two years of life;• National nutrition policies need to be translated into programmatic actions;• Human resource capacity for public health nutrition needs to be built with highquality in-service trainings in the short-term and long-term strategies toprovide pre-service trainings;• Community-based outreach should be strengthened by using existingchannels;• National nutrition surveillance systems need to be strengthened to ensure adequate use of data for monitoring, evaluation, and planning purposes.As part of the implementation of the 2010 World Health Assembly resolution on Infant and Young Child Nutrition (WHA 63.23) WHO has proposed a process to help countries in developing scale-up plans, which incorporates the Landscape Analysis Country Assessment as a tool to help countries in undertaking the initial context mapping. The countries that have already undertaken an in-depth Country Assessment, such as the Landscape Analysis Country Assessment, are ready to move forward in implementing the next steps in developing scaling-up plans to accelerateaction in nutrition. At the same time, WHO will support additional countries that have expressed interest in conducting the Country Assessment

Landscape Analysis - Assessing Countries' Readiness To Scale Up Nutrition Actions In The Who African Region

The purpose of this paper is to describe the use of the Landscape Analysis to assess strengths and weaknesses in combating malnutrition in sub-Saharan Africa. The Landscape Analysis is an inter-agency initiative to assess gaps and constraints and to identify opportunities for effective nutrition actions in order to accelerate inter- sectoral action for improving nutrition. In-depth Country Assessments to evaluate countries' "readiness" to scale up nutrition action have been conducted since 2008 in Sub-Saharan Africa. "Readiness" was assessed in terms of the commitment and capacity of each country and the focus was high stunting burden countries. The main focus was countries with heavy burden of undernutrition. From 2008 to September 2011, a total of 14 countries had undertaken the Landscape Analysis Country Assessment. Nine of them were in Africa: Burkina Faso, Comoros, Cote d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique, and South Africa. Three additional countries (Guinea, Namibia and Tanzania) were also planning to complete the Landscape Analysis Country Assessment in early 2012. From the findings in the nine countries, the following recommendations have been made: Existing nutrition architectures and coordination mechanisms should be strengthened and better utilized; Nutrition needs to be mainstreamed and integrated in relevant sector policies; Advocacy at high levels is needed to highlight the importance of the lifecourse perspective, focusing particularly on nutrition interventions from preconception until the first two years of life; National nutrition policies need to be translated into programmatic actions; Human resource capacity for public health nutrition needs to be built with high quality in-service trainings in the short-term and long-term strategies to provide pre-service trainings; Community-based outreach should be strengthened by using existing channels; National nutrition surveillance systems need to be strengthened to ensure adequate use of data for monitoring, evaluation, and planning purposes. As part of the implementation of the 2010 World Health Assembly resolution on Infant and Young Child Nutrition (WHA 63.23) WHO has proposed a process to help countries in developing scale-up plans, which incorporates the Landscape Analysis Country Assessment as a tool to help countries in undertaking the initial context mapping. The countries that have already undertaken an in-depth Country Assessment, such as the Landscape Analysis Country Assessment, are ready to move forward in implementing the next steps in developing scaling-up plans to accelerate action in nutrition. At the same time, WHO will support additional countries that have expressed interest in conducting the Country Assessment

Factors affecting fruit and vegetable consumer behaviour among adults in Sub-Saharan Africa: A rapid review

The aim of this rapid review is to assess and synthesise data on individual, social, physical and macro-level factors that affect consumption and purchase of fruit and vegetables, to identify gaps and to guide future research

From micronutrient recommendations to policy: consumer and stakeholder involvement.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: To achieve the nutritional goals stipulated by micronutrient recommendations, greater attention must be paid to the behavioural routes to such nutritional outcomes. Coopting stakeholders and consumers into decisions regarding micronutrient recommendations is an important step towards achieving a greater link between micronutrient recommendations and behaviour. This study aims to examine the rationale and processes associated with consumer and stakeholder involvement in setting micronutrient recommendations across Europe. SUBJECTS/METHODS: Using the contacts established through the Eurreca network of excellence (commissioned by the European Commission), the research involved in-depth desk research of key documents and communication channels linked to the process of setting micronutrient recommendations across seven countries: the United Kingdom, Norway, Denmark, Germany, Spain, the Czech Republic and Hungary. RESULTS: Stakeholder engagement is recognized by most countries as an important aspect of the process of setting micronutrient recommendations and their translation into policy, although there is notable variation in the extent to which this has been achieved across the seven countries and its effect on final decisions. Stakeholders were not involved at the outset of the process ('framing' of the problem) in any of the countries, and there was no evidence of consumer involvement and open public fora. CONCLUSIONS: Some of the key explanatory factors for diversity in the degree of involvement include historical sociopolitical context; the extent to which food and nutrition are key policy agenda; and the relative power of stakeholders in influencing food and nutrition policy