FCDO and BMGF Agriculture-Nutrition Research Investments

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Undernutrition remains one of the world’s greatest human and economic development challenges. Improving nutrition requires a multi-sectoral approach that brings together the health, agriculture, education, environment, water, sanitation and hygiene and social protection sectors. While there is some evidence that certain agricultural interventions can enhance dietary intakes and improve nutrition and health outcomes, there is a need for a broader set of robust and large-scale evidence to guide global program and policy efforts in nutrition-sensitive agriculture.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the UK Government’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office are co-funding a set of research projects which seek to address these evidence gaps. These projects will deliver high quality evidence linking agriculture, nutrition and health through systems-level approaches. This research agenda on nutritious food systems is outlined in more detail in the white paper Agriculture for Improved Nutrition: A Future Research Agenda

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the UK Government’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office are investing in new evidence in three areas:

  • Assessing the impact of agricultural policies and interventions: This research portfolio focuses on agricultural policies and interventions in low- and middle-income countries, generating rigorous, policy relevant evidence through high-quality trial and study designs. Click here to jump to more information on studies funded.
  • Improving food safety in informal market: This research portfolio is testing approaches and interventions to tackle foodborne disease and improve food safety in low- and middle-income contexts. Click here to jump to more information on studies funded.
  • Understanding the drivers of food choice among low-income consumers: This research portfolio is generating new evidence on the drivers of food choice among low-income consumers in Africa and South Asia. Food choices play a critical role in influencing nutrient intake and health, yet there are significant evidence gaps around the factors which influence these choices among poor consumers. Click here to jump to more information on studies funded.

Formative and Impact Studies

Targeting and re-aligning agriculture to improve nutrition (TRAIN) in Bangladesh and India

International Food Policy Research Institute
[email protected]


Community-driven and digital technology-enabled agriculture intervention for nutrition: a cluster randomised control trial in Odisha, India (UPAVAN)

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

[email protected]


Agronomic biofortification of maize with zinc fertilisers to improve nutrition in young children and women of reproductive age in rural Ethiopia

International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT)

h.degroote@cgiar.org


Agricultural incomes and nutrition: the effect of seasonality and household coping mechanisms

Vrutti

[email protected]


More Milk: making the most of milk

International Livestock Research Institute

[email protected]


Impact evaluation of an integrated poultry value chain and nutrition intervention (SE LEVER) in Burkina Faso

International Food Policy Research Institute

[email protected]


A formative and feasibility assessment of opportunities for strengthening dairy value chains in Ghana for improved maternal and child nutrition outcomes

University of Ghana

[email protected]


Preventing and mitigating peri-conceptional iron deficiency anaemia among women in Ghana through enhanced animal-source food value chains: a formative and feasibility study

University of Michigan

[email protected]


The invisible fishers: empowering and safeguarding women in fisheries value chains in Ghana to reduce anaemia

University of Michigan

[email protected]


Market Intervention for Nutritional Improvement (MINI): using microsimulation methods to assess the potential of a produce aggregation service to improve availability and affordability of fresh produce

School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London

[email protected]


Changing Access to Nutritious Diets in Africa and South Asia (CANDASA): using new price indexes to measure food system change in Ghana, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Bangladesh and India

Tufts University

[email protected]


Harnessing food demand systems for improved nutrition in sub-Saharan Africa

University of Georgia

[email protected]


Increasing fruit and vegetable intake of low-income populations in Vietnam and Nigeria through food systems innovations

Wageningen University

[email protected]


 

Food safety grants

Development of a comprehensive intervention to address foodborne enteric disease risks among young children living in low income informal neighbourhoods of Maputo and Nairobi

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
[email protected] 


Urban food markets in Africa: Incentivizing food safety using a pull-push approach

International Livestock Research Institute
[email protected]


Modelling exposure to biological hazards in the dairy chains of Andhra Pradesh to inform food safety policy

The Royal Veterinary College
[email protected]


Ensuring safety and quality of milk and dairy products across the dairy value chain in Ethiopia

Addis Ababa University
[email protected]


The assessment and management of risk from non-typhoidal salmonella, diarrheagenic Escherichia coli and campylobacter in raw beef and dairy in Ethiopia

Ohio State University
[email protected] 


Foodborne disease epidemiology, surveillance and control in African low- and middle-income countries (LMICs)

Technical University of Denmark
[email protected]


 

Drivers of Food Choice research

To explore these funded projects please visit the Drivers of Food Choice webpage at the University of South Carolina.

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