Raising awareness on food systems governance


FAO Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva and Jessica Fanzo, Bloomberg Distinguished Associate Professor at Johns Hopkins University. ©FAO/Pier Paolo Cito

FAO and Johns Hopkins University to work together to improve nutrition for the most vulnerable

14/06/2019 - 

Rome – On the opening day of the Future of Food Symposium, FAO and the Johns Hopkins University have formalized their agreement to work together to support evidence-based policy for improving nutrition, health, and well-being, particularly for the world’s most vulnerable and under-served populations.

FAO will work closely with Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Berman Institute of Bioethics to promote interdisciplinary and policy-focused research on systems thinking for nutrition, and to raise awareness about malnutrition in all its forms, including undernutrition, inadequate nutrition, overweight and obesity. The partnership also foresees greater engagement with global policy mechanisms to support systems-oriented food and nutrition policies at global, regional and national levels.

Over the course of the partnership, a number of activities will promote knowledge exchanges, through joint research activities regarding nutrition in humanitarian contexts, courses and seminars that address systems thinking for food security and nutrition, and country policy analyses on nutrition and food systems with the aim of supporting food systems policies and programmes.

Dr. Sunil Kumar, the Provost of the Johns Hopkins University, welcomed the agreement. “This is an exciting partnership with FAO, not only to strengthen the research on food systems for better diets and nutrition, but also to build the capacity of our students to tackle the grand challenges that our global food system faces. By joining forces with Hopkins’ Alliance for a Healthier World and the Berman Institute of Bioethics, we will bring together experts at Johns Hopkins University and FAO to take on innovative work that will address the multiple burdens of malnutrition and food insecurity that is stifling progress to reach the Sustainable Development Goals.”

Anna Lartey, FAO’s Director of Nutrition and Food Systems Division, welcomed the partnership as an opportunity to support countries in making decisions about their own food systems. “What is special about this collaboration with the Johns Hopkins University is that it will include the development of a food system dashboard,” she explained, “A public platform to provide countries with the information needed to improve their food systems.”