Please find here below additional specific technical comments from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Thanks.
- Types of data included: The report offers a conceptual framework for food security and nutrition determinants and outcomes and a data cycle from conceptualization of data needs to data generation and use. From my perspective what is missing in these introductory frameworks is a holistic description of the types of data of interest. There is no discussion of the key types of data that are being considered in this report. These would include: dietary intake, anthropometry, micronutrient status, food security, food safety, cost of healthy diet, food loss and waste. A table of the types of data this report is considering, along with the level of data collection (individual, household, sub-national, national, etc.), and perhaps a few other variables, would be quite helpful in the introductory section. In addition, the report is inconsistent in its incorporation of agricultural data. Agricultural data is mentioned in some sections of the report (but not in the title), but it is not comprehensively treated, so it is not clear whether the intention is to include all types of agricultural data or just select elements.
- Lack of prior data: Relevant to the point above, the discussion of constraints in research infrastructure on pp. 12-14 includes a very lengthy list of types of “prior data” that are missing or inadequate. This discussion reads a bit like a laundry list and includes types of data that extend from the Women’s Empowerment in Agricultural Index to agricultural land rights. This list of insufficient data from sectors adjacent to food security and nutrition is too sprawling, a bit disorganized, and is not actionable. Which are the key types of “adjacent” data that are necessary for food security and nutrition analysis and how can food security and nutrition data efforts improve the availability and use of such data?
- Existing data initiatives: In Table 1 under “Efforts to address data-related challenges and barriers,” some key relevant initiatives that are missing include: 1) Intake, Center for Dietary Assessment at FHI 360 (https://www.intake.org/), 2) Food Prices for Nutrition at Tufts (https://sites.tufts.edu/foodpricesfornutrition/), and 3) Global Dietary Database at Tufts (https://www.globaldietarydatabase.org/)
- Out-of-date assessments: In a few places the report seems to include information that does not reflect current conditions. Two examples: 1) Box 4 on the lack of data for nutrition assessments quotes the Malabo Montpellier Panel Report from 2017: “…there is no functioning global dietary database.” In fact, in the last few years FAO has created and is the host of a functioning global dietary database that is growing with additional data sets every month. 2) INFOODS is held up in a few places as a positive collaborative initiative success story, and while INFOODS has a wonderful vision and achieved important work in the past, it has had practically no funding for many years and has been stalled in many of its ambitions, despite its skilled and enthusiastic network of members.
- Examples of use of food security and nutrition data for policy-making: The questions guiding the online consultation ask for specific examples of the use of food security and nutrition data to inform policies, and FAO has a relevant report, co-authored with Intake, that is pending approval with FAO and should be published soon: “Global Report on the State of Dietary Data.” The report includes numerous examples of specific countries using dietary data to inform health, nutrition, and food policies and programs (see section 2.3).
M. Fabrizio Moscatelli