Facilitating connections, strengthening capacities and mobilizing evidence to influence policies on healthy food in Latin America

 

Latin America is one of the epicenters of ill health and deaths caused by non-communicable diseases, many of which result from the growing consumption of unhealthy food. Several factors favour this trend, including a lack of policies and regulations (or their implementation) that would promote healthy eating, massive campaigns promoting the consumption of processed and ultra-processed products, and the high cost of a healthy diet. Consequences of unhealthy diets disproportionately affect the poorest and most vulnerable populations, including women, children and Indigenous populations who have less access to healthy and nutritious foods. The shift to unhealthy eating also puts pressure on and overexploits the region's natural ecosystems, thereby exacerbating climate change, biodiversity loss, environmental pollution and multidimensional inequality.

This project will explore the potential of coalitions to influence policies and favour the production and consumption of healthy food in Latin America, with special attention to Honduras, Guatemala and Peru. It will explore how to strengthen national and regional coalitions and document, analyze and synthetize existing experiences, support exchange between regions and territories, and facilitate collaborative work to inform local, national or regional political processes, norms or regulations.

This project is part of a cohort exploring the potential role of coalitions to influence policies and transform food systems in Latin America, South Asia and Southeast Asia. These coalitions combine collaborative learning networks and communities of practice at multiple scales. They aim to support the production, consumption and access to healthy diets that contribute to the health of the most vulnerable and of the ecosystems on which they rely.