The Board for International Food and Agricultural Development (BIFAD) convened a public meeting, Fed to Thrive: Accelerating Action on Nourishing Foods for Infants and Young Children, as a side event of the 2022 Borlaug Dialogue at the World Food Prize under the theme “Feeding a Fragile World”. The meeting was held at the Iowa Event Center, 730 3rd Street, Des Moines, Iowa 50309 on October 19, 2022 from 7:00–8:45 am Central Time and included a public question and answer period.
The meeting gathered expert presenters and sought public input on evidence-based solutions for increasing the affordability, availability, and convenience of nutrient-dense foods for infants and children six months to two years of age, providing adequate safety nets for families most vulnerable to early childhood malnutrition, and engaging across systems to deliver on the global commitment to “feed a fragile world”. Presentations and discussion focused on the following questions: 1) What does a nutritionally balanced food basket for infants and young children look like, and what would it cost? 2) What are evidence-based priority actions to reduce the costs of balanced food baskets, improve nutrient content and safety, incentivize use by improving convenience and enabling caregivers, and provide financial means for the most vulnerable to access them through safety nets? 3) How do we achieve coordinated, gender-transformative change across the food, health, and social protection systems in both development and humanitarian (emergency) settings? Drawing from testimony by global experts and practitioners, BIFAD will advise the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) on recommended policy and program actions.
