Projects

Intervention Co-creation to Improve Community-based Food Production and Household Nutrition in Small Island Developing States (ICoFaN)

Generating evidence to support increased local food production aimed at improving household food security and nutrition.

Aim

The overarching aim was to co-create and evaluate community and household level interventions designed to improve local food production and nutrition.

Activities

The project was impacted by the covid-19 pandemic and a two-thirds funding cut in 2021/22. In addition, the project needed to adapt to the impact of major volcanic eruptions in St Vincent in 2021, and severe political instability in Haiti. Despite these challenges the following was achieved:

• Evidence reviews on the effectiveness of interventions to improve household nutrition in Small Island Developing States (SIDS)
• Tracking trends in food production, imports and nutrition in the project countries using routinely available data
• Mapping local food systems in the project countries
• Co-creating, with NGO partners in SVG and Fiji, and evaluating interventions designed to improve household food production and nutrition
• Assessing the situation and challenges faced by small holder farmers in the Nippes Region of Haiti.

Outcomes

The following outcomes were available in February 2023. More will follow.

• Evidence on interventions to improve nutrition and metabolic outcomes in SIDS is very limited, although supports the hypothesis that multifaceted interventions built on local food cultures are the most effective.
• Food system mapping emphasized the challenge increasing of sustainably increasing local food production in the face of cheap food imports.
• In SVG and Fiji, produce diversity in back yard gardening interventions was associated (cross sectionally) with dietary diversity, although it is less clear that interventions overtime improved dietary diversity.
• In Haiti, all small holders face major challenges, however, these are considerably greater in farms headed by women. Further work is planned to understand more fully the basis of these gender differences.

Outputs

Guell C, Saint Ville A, Anderson S, Murphy M, Iese V, Kiran S, Hickey G, Unwin N (2024) Small Island Developing States: addressing the intersecting challenges of non-communicable diseases, food insecurity, and climate change. The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, 12 (6): 422-432. ISSN 2213-8587. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-8587(24)00100-1

Guariguata L, Hickey GM, Murphy MM, Guell C, Iese V, et al. (2023) Understanding the links between human health, ecosystem health, and food systems in Small Island Developing States using stakeholder-informed causal loop diagrams. PLOS Global Public Health 3(9): e0001988. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0001988

Haynes E, Augustus E, Brown CR, Guell C, Iese V, Jia L, Morrissey K, Unwin N. Interventions in Small Island Developing States to improve diet, with a focus on the consumption of local, nutritious foods: a systematic review. BMJ Nutr Prev Health. 2022 Oct 20;5(2):243-253. doi: 10.1136/bmjnph-2021-000410

Augustus E, Haynes E, Guell C, Morrissey K, Murphy MM, Halliday C, Jia L, Iese V, Anderson SG, Unwin N. The Impact of Nutrition-Based Interventions on Nutritional Status and Metabolic Health in Small Island Developing States: A Systematic Review and Narrative Synthesis. Nutrients. 2022 Aug 26;14(17):3529. doi: 10.3390/nu14173529