المنتدى العالمي المعني بالأمن الغذائي والتغذية

Mexico, like most countries, is undergoing through a serious public health threat: obesity and non-communicable diseases. This situation still coexists with nutritional deficiencies such as malnutrition or anemia, to name the most common. Food insecurity plays a very important role in the folding of both problems.

Each country has implemented policies and actions that seek to address this double burden of disease (obesity and nutritional deficiencies), and although such policies are focused on the national and international scientific evidence, in many cases, the influence of the food security is neglected in strategic plans of action.

Mexico currently works a comprehensive public policy focused on the prevention and control of overweight, obesity and diabetes (diabetes is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the country), the National Strategy for the Prevention and Control of overweight, obesity and Diabetes. The Strategy proposes the integration of three pillars and six strategic areas:

1. Public health: Including health promotion strategies and communication and education interventions and a preventive approach.
2. Medical care: The goal is to strengthen the first level of attention in early detection and resolution.
3. Regulation and Fiscal Policy: The country is implementing a new set of regulations that includes a tax on sodas and sugary drinks, the banning of advertising of high caloric products targeted to children and new guidelines for food and non-alcoholic beverages distribution in the National Schools System.

Furthermore Mexico has developed a scale to measure food security of its population, called the Mexican Food Security Scale (EMSA) which addresses the dimension of access to food for estimates of poverty in the country. The scale is constructed from a set of twelve questions that consider the quality and adequacy of food through auto-report.

However, in light of the current sedentary lifestyle that accompanies globalization; the food industry and its production; urbanization; and the climate change, the serious problem posed by obesity and non-communicable diseases asks for food security to be immersed in all the policies.

The following are recommendations for the implementation of food safety in health policies:

• To perform national surveys to monitor food security and propose an evidence-based discussion around policy revision.
• To assess if regulatory measures (such as the tax on sodas) has contributed to change the population´s diet.
• To promote a dietary guidance to the population is provided and if it has contributed to healthier environments in terms of proper nutrition in populations, households and individuals.
• To monitor food waste in commercial food systems and in homes, and to assess to what extent it affects the chain of production and the product offering to the population.
• Policies should promote the rescue of healthy traditional food culture through innovative strategies, from dietary guidance to urban food production.
• The food security actions must have an intersectorial approach, in which the civil society, the private sector, the public sector and the academia collaborate and share responsibilities.
• To create and implement strategies including agro-technologies focused on the production and distribution of food, which means to invest in research focused on this areas.
• To strengthen the information and awareness to people about how pollution affects their diet, both in access and consumption.