BOX 8
Public Health and Agriculture: Working Together Kabba T. Joiner, Helen Keller International
T
he agriculture and health sectors have long been separated by fun-
damentally different societal func- tions and institutional organization. However, both health and agriculture representatives made a marked effort to bring the two sectors closer together in 2011, forming some promising links between agriculture and health orga- nizations. Programs that have emerged more recently in Sub-Saharan Africa include the Baby Friendly Community Initiative in The Gambia, Millennium Villages in Mali, Gardens for Health in Rwanda, and Agriculture for Children’s Empowerment in Liberia. Agriculture can make both direct and
indirect contributions to health. Growth in agriculture leads to increased rural income, which is positively related to bet- ter health status when community health infrastructure is financed by profits from agriculture. Sustained agricultural devel- opment can indirectly lead to significant progress in rural health. In particular, if women’s incomes grow, they use health- care services more frequently, which improves maternal and child health.
Agriculture can contribute to public
health directly through improved agri- cultural products. In general, improving diets—by improving food products— reduces the burden of chronic diseases. Integrating the agriculture and health sectors also improves food safety by making it possible to establish bet- ter surveillance systems from farm to table. But more can be done than just growing better-quality crops. For a long time, agriculture was not considered a primary weapon in the elimination of micronutrient malnutrition. Food systems were developed with little attention to balanced nutrient require- ments that support good health and well-being. Now HarvestPlus and other organizations are addressing this issue through the breeding of mineral- and vitamin-rich crops, such as orange- fleshed (that is, carotene-rich) sweet potatoes and high-iron pearl millet. Collaborations between the agriculture
and health sectors can lead to substantial improvements in diet quality in devel- oping countries, but they can flourish only if certain human and institutional
challenges are overcome. Representatives from both sectors need to
• take cross-sectoral action at the com- munity level;
• increase funding in units of the health sector that can work with agriculture;
• create formal arrangements, assign responsibilities, and develop skills for intersectoral negotiation and decisionmaking;
• establish reliable communication and links among researchers, policymakers, and practitioners in both sectors;
• ensure mutual consultation in priority setting and activities like data collec- tion; and
• strengthen human capital in both sectors by reviewing curricula or by exchanging staff and sharing facilities.
Decisionmakers in agriculture and
health should push for more innovation and cross-sectoral participation to pro- duce better outcomes. They must go off the beaten path in order to maximize the benefits from their collaboration.
chain. A value-chain approach to development can incorporate nutrition goals and thereby make nutritious foods more available and affordable for the poor. Tis approach starts by looking at every component of the food supply chain from field to fork—including production, postharvest process- ing, marketing, and trade—and determining where value for nutrition can be integrated. Te food value chain also involves many hazards—micro- biological, physical, and chemical hazards, as well as occupational hazards—that pose challenges for producing and consuming safe food. Policymakers
are increasingly using risk analysis to help them decide on regulatory and other actions to reduce health risks along the food value chain.5 Many interventions are being tried to under-
stand and deal with these challenges. Examples include biofortification (the breeding of new variet- ies of food crops with improved nutritional con- tent); schemes to increase household production and consumption of micronutrient-rich vegetables, fruits, and animal-source foods; local production of foods for school feeding programs; and proj- ects to integrate agriculture, nutrition, and health
AGRICULTURE, NUTRITION, AND HEALTH 59
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126