PI: Professor Nigel Unwin

Funders: Biotechnology and Biological Studies Council (BBSRC)

Medical Research Council (MRC)

One in five members of the United Nations are small island developing states (SIDS): 38 countries with a combined population of 61 million. The majority of these are poor, eligible for ODA, and over a quarter are 'least developed' countries. They have high burdens of malnutrition, including overweight and obesity alongside anaemia in women of reproductive age, and additionally some, such as Haiti, also have high burdens of childhood stunting. Over the past 3 decades malnutrition in SIDS has been exacerbated by an increasing reliance on food imports, the majority of which are of low nutritional quality. SIDS Governments have committed to increasing the local production and consumption of nutritious food as a way of increasing food security and sovereignty and addressing the high burden of malnutrition related morbidity and mortality.

This project is intended to add to the evidence base and research capacity to support these policy commitments. This project is co-creating community based interventions to improve local food production and consumption with the Foundation for Rural Integration and Enterprise Development (FRIEND) in Fiji and Richmond Vale Academy in SVG and to evaluate impacts on household nutrition and household expenditures.