by Grenada Food and Nutrition Council
Grenada joined representatives from 6 other countries for a workshop organised by Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, at the World Bank’s recent workshop, “Monitoring the Cost and Affordability of a Healthy Diet Within Countries and Globally.”
This workshop allowed attendees to share and learn about national processes for monitoring the Cost and Affordability of a Healthy Diet (CoAHD). The Grenada Food and Nutrition Council (GFNC) selected Community Nutritionist with responsibility for Surveillance Gardeina Savoury to participate, and the meeting took place during the last week of October in Rome, Italy.
The Cost and Affordability of a Healthy Diet (CoAHD) is a metric developed by the Food Prices for Nutrition Project, led by researchers at Tufts University in collaboration with the World Bank and IFPRI. Used by 179 countries, CoAHD provides valuable insights into the cost of healthy diets and assesses their affordability for different populations. While GFNC has been collecting price data for over 20 years using a different system, Savoury’s attendance aimed to explore the CoAHD methodology, with hopes of integrating it into the council’s work to align with regional and global standards and improve data comparability.
In her presentation, Savoury highlighted several potential benefits of adopting CoAHD. First, GFNC nutrition officers could use the tool to guide families on budget-friendly options for balanced, nutritious meals. Second, it can support and refine nutrition policies to strengthen food security and improve access to affordable, healthy diets. Finally, CoAHD can help evaluate the current school feeding programme, identifying its nutritional successes and potential areas for improvement.
Given that GFNC’s mission is to promote health and well-being among the Grenadian population through informed food choices and healthy lifestyles, integrating CoAHD would mark an important step forward. The council is currently in discussions with Grenada’s Central Statistical Office (CSO) to implement CoAHD in 2025. To learn more about GFNC, visit our website: https://gfnc.gov.gd/about-us/
GFNC
