The Economic Policy Research Centre (EPRC), in collaboration with African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC), and four other institutions across Africa and Europe has won a research project, through a grant from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC).
The project titled “Building evidence to develop a feasible, context-specific package of regulatory and policy interventions for diet related Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) prevention in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania” aims to identify context-relevant actions that promote healthy food consumption patterns and practices. It shall also facilitate knowledge translation pathways to prevent diet related NCDs in the three East African countries.
The project will specifically focus on:
- Developing a package of effective regulatory interventions for healthier food environments in the three East African countries of Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania;
- Providing evidence on exposure of children to unhealthy foods and nonalcoholic beverages, including the power of promotions;
- The cost of policy inaction associated with current Nutrition Related (NR-NCDs) on households and the health system; and
- Knowledge translation pathways into policy, including context-relevant interventions that prevent Nutrition Related NCDs.
The investigators representing EPRC on the project are Ms. Gemma Ahaibwe and Mr. Tony Odokonyero. They will explore the gaps in existing evidence related to public policies and government actions on priority interventions, identify barriers to implementation and develop tools for monitoring and evaluation in the three East African countries. They will also assess the frequency and level of exposure of children to unhealthy foods and non-alcoholic beverages, the power of promotions (persuasive power of techniques used in promotional communications) on television, in stores, and around schools in the three countries
In addition the project will estimate the cost of policy inaction – cost associated with current NR-NCDs on household and health system in each country; and probe the feasibility of adopting and implementing specific legal and administrative context specific interventions in each country; as well as, encourage uptake, and scale up context-relevant interventions that prevent NR-NCDs in each of the countries
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