Mapping access to food to subsidize public policies on food and nutrition security and combating hunger in brazilian cities

Abstract

In Brazil, there is a growing incidence of food and nutritional insecurity in cities (II VIGISAN, 2021). In this context, the National Secretariat for Food and Nutrition Security (SESAN), of the Ministry of Development and Social Assistance, Family and Fight against Hunger (MDS), created a specific working group to discuss food and nutrition security in Brazilian cities, which motivated the proposal of this research project. Although there are ongoing public policies on food and nutrition security (FNS) in Brazil, inequalities in access to healthy food in cities demand the coordination of applied scientific studies in partnership with public decision-makers to support the formulation of policies to strengthen FNS. This project aims to develop metrics for characterizing and monitoring access to healthy food in Brazilian cities and their socio-spatial inequalities. For each region of the country, the mapping of food and nutritional insecurity in one city will be carried out. As scientific knowledge production generated by this project, under the principles of rapid science, we have (i) the systematization of national and international experiences of FNS in cities, (ii) the development of indicators that enable the coordination between demand and supply of healthy food, supporting the formulation, evaluation and monitoring of FNS policies in cities and (iii) inclusion and development of methods for mapping access to food in the cities under investigation. These results will be developed from primary and secondary data on the population, its situation in relation to FNS, spatial structure and qualification of food access points, systematic review of scientific and technical publications on FNS in cities, among other necessary data. Modeling and spatial analysis techniques will be explored, enabling the understanding and monitoring of access to healthy food. Scientific knowledge will be directly articulated with public management, subsidizing (i) the elaboration of the III PLANSAN: strategies for FNS in cities, (ii) the development of the FNS line in cities in the National Food Security Plan and (iii) the updating of SISAN through the systematization of databases and mapping for monitoring FNS policies in cities and open, integration and strategies for public communication (dashboards). The project will be conducted over 24 months and will include constant and synergic dialogues between public managers and the researchers involved. (AU)