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State of school-based food and nutrition education in 30 low- and middle-income countries

Survey report











FAO. 2021. State of school-based food and nutrition education in 30 low- and middle-income countries: Survey report. Rome


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    Book (stand-alone)
    Technical book
    School-based food and nutrition education
    A white paper on the current state, principles, challenges and recommendations for low- and middle-income countries
    2020
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    School-based food and nutrition education (SFNE) helps schoolchildren and the school community to achieve lasting improvements in their food practices and outlooks; build the capacity to change and to adapt to external change; and pass on their learning to others. SFNE has also an important role in complementing efforts that are being made globally to improve food environments, and in empowering children and adolescents to become active participants in shaping the food system to be better able to deliver healthy and sustainable diets. Despite increasing interest for SFNE, the evidence that supports it and its potential, much of traditional SFNE, particularly in LMICs, is largely underfunded, not delivering results, and disconnected from other key interventions that aim to support the food, nutrition, environment, and education nexus. SFNE is under-resourced, with capacity development opportunities lacking throughout the school system. This White Paper is the first document of its kind, and it is based on the evidence, professional expertise, and field experience, lessons learned, and documented challenges of SFNE work in a variety of contexts. It presents the case for raising the profile and transforming the vision and learning model of SFNE. This document is directed firstly to a technical audience working in governmental organizations that deal with schoolchildren and adolescents and is also of interest to researchers, technical advisors, decision-makers, donors and investors, civil society, and UN organizations.
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    Book (stand-alone)
    Technical book
    Stepping up school-based food and nutrition education
    International Expert Consultation Report
    2019
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    School-based food and nutrition education (SFNE) represents a crucial opportunity to reach children, families and the broader school community in a regular and continuous way to foster lasting healthy food practices and capacities. The consultation on “Stepping up School-based Food and Nutrition Education: Exploring Challenges, Finding Solutions and Building Partnerships,” organised by FAO in collaboration with the United Arab Emirates University was the first specialized global meeting of its kind. It provided stakeholders from different fields of expertise working with school-based programmes a platform to discuss challenges and define priorities, competencies and educational innovations with the main focus on SFNE. Most importantly, the consultation launched a renewed vision, going beyond the integration of SFNE as stand-alone, disconnected and fragmented interventions and a largely academic requirement in schools. This report provides a description of the consultation, the results achieved and the recommendations agreed on by the experts.
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    Article
    Journal article
    Concordance of dietary diversity and moderation among 28,787 mother-child dyads in 11 low- and middle-income countries: implications for global monitoring and targeted nutrition actions 2025
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    In 2025, the ‘Prevalence of minimum dietary diversity’ among infants and young children (IYC) aged 6–23 months and females aged 15–49 years was adopted as an additional Sustainable Development Goal 2: Zero Hunger indicator. Previous studies, mainly in high-income countries, have reported that children's diets bear weak to moderate resemblance of their mothers' diets. Therefore, this study assessed i) the rank correlation between Minimum Dietary Diversity for Women (MDD-W) and MDD-IYC prevalence at country-level and ii) the associations and concordance of nutritious and unhealthy food group consumption among mother-child dyads using nationally representative survey data from 11 low- and middle-income countries. MDD-W was significantly higher than MDD-IYC in each survey, but the indicators nonetheless rank correlated very strongly across countries. Discordance favoured mothers for pulses, nuts and seeds; flesh foods; vitamin A-rich fruits and vegetables (F&V); other F&V; and fried and salty foods, while the opposite was observed for dairy products, eggs, and sweet drinks. Higher maternal dietary diversity was strongly associated with higher diversity in nutritious food group consumption among children in each country. Lastly, mothers consuming five or more out of 10 nutritious food groups—in other words, achieving MDD-W—best discriminated whether children achieved MDD-IYC or not. In conclusion, MDD-IYC and MDD-W data provide complementary insights for targeted and context-specific food and nutrition policies and programmes, such as behavioural change and nutrition education interventions and food environment regulations, needed to improve dietary diversity and moderation of unhealthy food groups among both IYC and females of childbearing age.

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