Country engagement

The Food Prices for Nutrition project equips policy analysts with tools for monitoring the cost and affordability of healthy diets, to help them guide change in agriculture, and food systems and nutrition. We develop and share user-friendly materials in dialogue with partners worldwide, and provide limited technical assistance through country workshops and other activities in a variety of focus countries as explained in the article below and discussed in our capstone workshop in October 2024:

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The Food Prices for Nutrition project also supports researchers and practitioners to inform decisions about how to improve diet quality worldwide through the global Agriculture, Nutrition and Health Academy; you can sign up for events and news through that ANH Academy Research Community on Food Access.

Launch Event
April Event
Event

Our engagement with national governments and international agencies aims to scale up the use of food price data, including new diet cost and affordability metrics to monitor food systems and inform policy in agriculture, health, and related fields. To do this, we convene discussions of national user groups to discuss, interpret, and use published food price data and analyses, involving a variety of stakeholders such as:

  • Government officials designing agricultural policy, transportation infrastructure, or social protection programs;
  • Individuals and leaders of civil society organizations, advocating for change or investment in a specific sector;
  • Market analysts in private sector businesses interested in food system opportunities; and
  • Researchers and students interested in monitoring food system performance, to understand how food environments limit food choice.

Nigeria

In January 2024, Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) became the first country to regularly monitor the Cost of a Healthy Diet on a monthly basis, posting the most recent data here, and archived past reports here. This work was completed thanks to a collaborative effort from NBS leaders and staff; the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition; and the Food Prices for Nutrition Project. Nigeria’s NBS launched their first bulletin on January 31, 2024, as reported in Nigerian media like The Guardian among other outlets, and was quickly the topic of independent local data analysis and policy advocacy. In August 2024, it was reported that the new federal minimum wage in Nigeria was influence partly by the Cost of a Healthy Diet report.

Ethiopia

The first national government to produce its own analysis of cost and affordability for local national dietary guidelines is Ethiopia, as a joint effort between the Ethiopian Public Health (EPHI) and the Ethiopian Statistical Service (ESS), supported by the Food Prices for Nutrition project at Tufts and IFPRI. Their initial analysis of national data was published in August of 2023 and is available here. In January 2025, Ethiopia published the first set of quarterly bulletins on the Cost of a Healthy Diet.

Ghana

The Statistics, Research, and Information Directorate of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (SRID-MoFA) in Ghana routinely collects market food prices, which has been expanded to include additional food items for calculating the Cost of a Healthy Diet. In 2023, Ghana published its food-based dietary guidelines, reaffirming its commitment to monitoring economic access to healthy diets in alignment with those guidelines. Efforts are ongoing to publish quarterly bulletins on the cost of a healthy diet in Ghana, supported by the Food Prices for Nutrition project at Tufts University.

Malawi

In Malawi, the National Statistical Office (NSO) is leading efforts to collect and analyze data for the Cost of a Healthy Diet report. A hands-on training workshop was held in June 2024 to enhance the use of Cost of a Healthy Diet calculation tools for effective monitoring.

Pakistan

Through the combined effort of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Food Prices for Nutrition project, and the Government of Pakistan, a national report on the cost and affordability of a healthy diet was produced in 2024 with a focus on improving physical and economic access to the foods needed for a healthy life. In February 2024, the Food Prices for Nutrition project conducted a training workshop with stakeholders from the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination, Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives, and Ministry of National Food Security & Research. The workshop featured hands-on training of individuals who are involved in monitoring the cost of a healthy diet in Pakistan.

Francophone countries

Francophone collaborators in West Africa are encouraged to view our bilingual publication through OECD entitled Alimentation saine, coûts et politiques alimentaires au Sahel et en Afrique de l’Ouest, also available in English as Healthy diets, costs and food policies in the Sahel and West Africa. Francophone collaborators can also view the Burkina Faso webinar below, and the July 2022 global World Bank launch event in French.

Other countries

National user groups are designed to share data and methods among researchers and practitioners working or interested in each of the nine focus countries of the Food Prices for Nutrition project. Food price user groups are country-specific and open to all. Please contact rachel.gilbert@tufts.edu if you are interested in working with the Food Prices for Nutrition project in a similar capacity in your country or organization.

Stakeholder Workshops (in-country)

Introductory Webinars (online)

These videos are also available on the Food Prices for Nutrition YouTube Channel at bit.ly/FoodPricesforNutritionYouTube

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