Unhealthy diets are a major driver of all forms of malnutrition, including undernutrition, micronutrient deficiencies, and overweight and obesity. At the same time, our food systems contribute about a third of greenhouse gas emissions and degrade natural resources. The 2024 Global Food Policy Report examines policies, innovations, and governance solutions to strengthen diet quality and nutrition sustainably, and highlights the substantial benefits that sustainable healthy diets would bring for people and the planet.
In Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), high rates of urbanization and relatively higher incomes are leading to an epidemic of obesity alongside persistent undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies. The great diversity of the region’s countries is reflected in the range and types of nutritional challenges they face. While over 20 percent of LAC’s population overall cannot afford a healthy diet, the rate reaches more than 40 percent in some countries. Rates of obesity and of undernutrition also vary greatly across the region.
This event will focus on how the LAC region can develop national food systems that ensure sustainable healthy diets, drawing on findings from the report. Efforts must include clearly defining policy objectives, addressing the drivers of obesity such as the rapid increase in consumption of ultra-processed foods, strengthening social protection programs, and increasing the availability and affordability of nutritious foods through increased production and trade. Discussion will focus on challenges and opportunities to transform food systems so that everyone can reap the benefits of sustainable healthy diets.
More about the report
IFPRI’s 2024 Global Food Policy Report on Food Systems for Healthy Diets and Nutrition draws on a substantial body of research on diets, agriculture, and food systems from IFPRI and CGIAR, in partnership with colleagues around the world. It explores how demand-side approaches can support healthy dietary choices, the need to invest in improving affordability, and ways to strengthen food environments to support healthy diets. The report also highlights supply-side ways to improve diets, including increasing consumption of fruits and vegetables and assessing the role of animal-source foods, and discusses how effective governance can help achieve change. For each of the world’s major regions, the report identifies critical challenges and opportunities for contextually relevant actions to deliver healthy diets and nutrition for all.
Opening Remarks
- Lina Salazar, Lead Economist, Rural Development, Agriculture and Natural Resources Division, Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)
Opening and Report Launch
- Deanna Olney, Director, Nutrition, Diets, and Health (NDH), IFPRI
Selected findings from the 2024 GFPR
- Jef Leroy, Senior Research Fellow, IFPRI
- Valeria Piñeiro, Acting Head of the Latin American region & Senior Research Coordinator, IFPRI
Comments from the 2024 GFPR
- Carolina Trivelli Ávila, Economist, Principal Researcher, Institute of Peruvian Studies
Panel Discussion
- Lina Salazar, Lead Economist, Rural Development, Agriculture and Natural Resources Division, Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)
- Deanna Olney, Director, Nutrition, Diets, and Health (NDH), IFPRI
- Jef Leroy, Senior Research Fellow, IFPRI
- Valeria Piñeiro, Acting Head of the Latin American region & Senior Research Coordinator, IFPRI
- Gabriela Fretes, Associate Research Fellow, IFPRI
Moderator
- Lina Salazar, Lead Economist, Rural Development, Agriculture and Natural Resources Division, Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)