FAO co-organizes workshop in Lao PDR to enhance use of food consumption data

The Food and Nutrition Division (ESN) at FAO led a 3-week training course with 25 participants gathered in Vientiane, Lao PDR and others on Zoom to explain how to use dietary data. The attendees, included representatives from the Ministry of Health - the Lao Tropical and Public Health Institute (Lao-TPHI), Nutrition Center, Department of Hygiene and Health Promotion, and the University of Health Sciences, all of whom will be able to use the techniques to support evidence-based policy making.

The overall purpose of the training was to make the best use of data that had been gathered in a nation-wide food consumption survey conducted in 2016-2017, and which were integrated in the FAO/WHO Global Individual Food Consumption Data Tool (FAO/WHO GIFT). The training organised by the Nutrition Assessment team at ESN was delivered by specialists in nutrition and food policy. It was structured in two modules and covered respectively:

Module 1: Using and understanding of the FAO/WHO GIFT Platform; Others potential uses of food consumption data – Food Safety and FBDGs; Using FAO/WHO GIFT data visualizations to produce country briefs for policy.

Module 2: Assessing the data quality of a survey/dataset; The harmonization process of food consumption data with the FoodEx2 classification; Using food groups in nutrition; FAO/WHO GIFT infographics calculation: how to produce the different summary statistics.