Marie Ruel POLICY SEMINAR Virtual Event - No backsliding: How can we re-orient food systems and health systems to protect nutrition and healthy diets in the context of COVID-19? Co-Organized by IFPRI and the CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH) MAY 28, 2020 - 09:30 AM TO 11:00 AM EDT

1. COVID-19’s
Pathways of
Impacts on
Nutrition
Marie Ruel
Director of Poverty, Health, and Nutrition Division
International Food Policy Research Institute
May 28, 2020

2. “COVID-19 will impact nutrition through impacts
on key sectors we rely on for improving nutrition”
Source: UNICEF Framework for Action
(Shawn Baker, USAID) https://vimeo.com/414028019

3. Health Systems
▪ Disruptions in health services
o Drops in coverage of essential nutrition actions: e.g. antenatal
care, child birth, neonatal care, immunization, micronutrient
supplementation, nutrition counseling
o Drops in prevention and treatment of infectious and parasitic
diseases (e.g. malaria), severe acute malnutrition
o Stock-outs of essential drugs and micronutrient supplements
(iron/folate, multiple micronutrients, vitamin A, ORS and zinc,
ready-to-use therapeutic foods)
➢Also important drop in demand for services

4. Economic Crisis and Food Systems
-10
-8
-6
-4
-2
0
2
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Volume,%change
148 M additional poor (20%)  Consumption of nutrient-rich foods
5% Economic downturn
Source: Laborde, Martin and Vos 2020: https://www.ifpri.org/blog/poverty-and-food-insecurity-could-grow-dramatically-covid-19-spreads

5. Economic Crisis & Food Systems 2
▪ Livelihood and income losses (Bangladesh – BIGD):
o 70% drop in income (larger in urban slums)
o ~25% drop in food expenditure (28% in urban slums)
o use of coping strategies (< 3 meals/d)
▪ Food supply chains disruptions (Ethiopia): Demand and supply
o Addis: 50% HH avoided dairy, meat, poultry; 22% vegetables
o Vegetable value chain; trading and consumption (individual,
restaurants); scarce labor, inputs shortage and high prices, waste)
➢ Evidence of  consumption of nutritious foods; deterioration of diet quality
Sources: Bangladesh Institute for Governance and Development, 2020; Tamru, Hirvonen, Minten 2020; Hirvonen, Abate, De Brauw 2020

6. Social Protection Systems
▪ Social protection programs:
o Existing programs may have been disrupted
o 170 countries have planned, introduced, adapted SP programs
(mostly cash or in-kind transfers)
➢ Unlikely to be able to meet all the demand
▪ School feeding programs:
o 195 countries have had school closures; 370 M children without
school meals
o 45 countries implementing take-home school meals; 10 cash based
transfers; 15 various modalities
➢ Concerns about quality of meals, esp. diversity, micronutrient content
Sources: Gentilini et al. 2020; WFP 2020

7. How to protect nutrition
▪ Keep agri-food systems functioning (including informal sector)
▪ Facilitate food system innovations
▪ Support (where relevant) local (homestead) food production to increase
access to nutrient-rich foods (fruits, vegetables, eggs, etc.)
▪ Find innovative ways to stimulate demand for nutrient-rich foods (e.g. mobile
phone messaging, address misinformation, etc.)
▪ Use social safety net programs to improve dietary quality, not just quantity
▪ Prevent the collapse of basic maternal and child health services
▪ Invest in WASH
▪ Address vulnerabilities and inequities (age, gender, refugees, poor…)
#569B40

8. Standing
Together
for
Nutrition
One Virus, Many
ConsequencesA Call to Action for the global nutrition and food systems research community to
come together to connect and build evidence for nutrition action in the context of
COVID-19.