Scientific Facts on Agriculture & Development

0.4 Health and Nutrition

The Executive Summary of the IAASTD Synthesis Report states:

Human health and nutrition

Inter-linkages between health, nutrition, agriculture, and ASKT affect the ability of individuals, communities, and nations to reach sustainability goals. These inter-linkages exist within the context of multiple stressors that affect population health. A broad and integrated approach is needed to identify appropriate use of AKST to increase food security and safety, decrease the incidence and prevalence of a range of infectious (including emerging and re-emerging diseases such as malaria, avian influenza, HIV/AIDS and others) and chronic diseases, and decrease occupational exposures, injuries and deaths. Robust agricultural, public health, and veterinary detection, surveillance, monitoring, and response systems can help identify the true burden of ill health and cost-effective, health-promoting strategies and measures. Addition investments are needed to maintain and improve current systems and regulations.

* Increasing foodsecurity can be facilitated by promoting policies and programs to diversify diets and improve micronutrient intake; and developing and deploying existing and new technologies for the production, processing, preservation, and distribution of food.
* Increasing food safety can be facilitated by effective, coordinated, and proactive national and international food safety systems to ensure animal, plant, and human health, such as investments in adequate infrastructure, public health and veterinary capacity, legislative frameworks for identification and control of biological and chemical hazards; and farmer- scientist partnerships for the identification, monitoring and evaluation of risks.
* The burden of infectious disease can be decreased by strengthening coordination between and the capacity of agricultural, veterinary, and public health systems, integrating multi-sectoral policies and programs across the food chain to reduce the spread of infectious diseases, and developing and deploying new AKST to identify, monitor, control, and treat diseases.
* The burden of chronic disease can be decreased by policies that explicitly recognize the importance of improving human health and nutrition, including regulation of food product formulation through legislation, international agreements and regulations for food labeling and health claims, and creation of incentives for the production and consumption of health- promoting foods.
* Occupational health can be improved by development and enforcement of health and safety regulations (including child labor laws and pesticide regulations), enforcement of cross- border issues such as illegal use of toxic agrochemicals, and conducting health risk assessments that make explicit the tradeoffs between maximizing livelihood benefits, the environment, and improving health.