Agri-health research: what have we learned and where to next?
The Leverhulme Centre for Integrative Research on Agriculture and Health (LCIRAH) held its fifth annual research conference, at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, on the 3rd and 4th of June, 2015. It provided an opportunity to gather researchers from around the world to examine and reflect critically on what we have learned from agriculture, nutrition and health research in the past five years and what the future research agenda should look like.
Research studies presented fell into the following themes:
- Women and child health outcomes
- Behaviour change/consumer acceptance
- Innovative metrics & tools
- Diversifying local agricultural production & diets
- Value chain approaches to nutrition
- Nutrition sensitive agriculture policy
Developments in different research areas, such as gender and women’s empowerment in agriculture and nutrition, theoretical and methodological shifts towards interdisciplinary work, innovative metrics and a shift from quantity (i.e. caloric adequacy) to quality of the diet, were discussed. These developments have led to a new language and innovative strategies for the implementation of policies and projects. There is a general recognition to rethink policy, research and measurement of agriculture interventions in terms of the wellbeing of individuals (in particular to poorer and marginalised groups), improved tools and metrics to measure agri-health interventions, while better linking research and policy. Engagement and capacity building of stakeholders at different stages of the value chain and the promotion of partnerships between different institutions are considered essential to mainstream and implement effective nutrition-sensitive agricultural interventions and policies.
Two side events were also held:
- Launch of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs report: “Healthy Food for a Healthy World - Leveraging Agriculture and Food to Improve Global Nutrition”, June 2, 2015
- Women’s time allocation, agriculture and nutrition seminar, June 2, 2015
Sessions were audio-recorded or videoed. These, together with conference abstracts and presentations are available here.