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Monitoring the impacts of trade agreements on food environments

journal contribution
posted on 2013-10-01, 00:00 authored by S Friel, L Hattersley, Wendy Snowdon, A M Thow, T Lobstein, D Sanders, S Barquera, S Mohan, C Hawkes, B Kelly, S Kumanyika, M L'Abbe, A Lee, J Ma, J Macmullan, C Monteiro, B Neal, M Rayner, Gary SacksGary Sacks, Boyd SwinburnBoyd Swinburn, S Vandevijvere, C Walker
The liberalization of international trade and foreign direct investment through multilateral, regional and bilateral agreements has had profound implications for the structure and nature of food systems, and therefore, for the availability, nutritional quality, accessibility, price and promotion of foods in different locations. Public health attention has only relatively recently turned to the links between trade and investment agreements, diets and health, and there is currently no systematic monitoring of this area. This paper reviews the available evidence on the links between trade agreements, food environments and diets from an obesity and non-communicable disease (NCD) perspective. Based on the key issues identified through the review, the paper outlines an approach for monitoring the potential impact of trade agreements on food environments and obesity/NCD risks. The proposed monitoring approach encompasses a set of guiding principles, recommended procedures for data collection and analysis, and quantifiable 'minimal', 'expanded' and 'optimal' measurement indicators to be tailored to national priorities, capacity and resources. Formal risk assessment processes of existing and evolving trade and investment agreements, which focus on their impacts on food environments will help inform the development of healthy trade policy, strengthen domestic nutrition and health policy space and ultimately protect population nutrition.

History

Journal

Obesity reviews

Volume

14

Issue

Supplement S1

Pagination

120 - 134

Publisher

Wiley-Blackwell

Location

Chichester, England

ISSN

1467-7881

eISSN

1467-789X

Language

eng

Publication classification

C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Copyright notice

2013, Wiley-Blackwell Publishing