4. Progress
Multidisciplinary expert advisory group and review of the study
A multi-disciplinary expert advisory group was formed to review and evaluate the outcomes of the study and to assist WHO in developing effective and sustainable guiding principles for improving household food and nutrition security and disseminating them to Member States to be incorporated into national nutrition policies and programmes. The members of the multi-disciplinary expert advisory group consisted of those experts from the field of nutrition, anthropology, sociology, psychology, agricultural economics, economic geography, communication and education.
Study Progress
1997: A mid-project review meeting at the WHO Centre for Health Development in Kobe, Japan (November 1997) brought together principal investigators together with the multi-disciplinary expert advisory group to examine progress and preliminary findings at each study site, share information and experience, and assist some sites with revising their study designs, and analysing and interpreting data.
The meeting also reviewed available data on intrahousehold resource distribution to identify patterns and contributing factors.
1999: On the occasion of the 8th Asian Congress of Nutrition held in Seoul, Korea, from 29 August to 2 September 1999, WHO organized, jointly with Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), a workshop on "Achieving household food and nutrition security in societies in transition", in order to examine preliminary outcomes of the study sites in Asia, such as China, Indonesia and Myanmar. Similar critical analyses on food and nutrition security, particularly the issues related to nutrition transition from Korea and Japan, were also presented and reviewed at this workshop. The proceedings of this workshop was published as a special supplement of Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition*
* Nishida C, Webb P, Nantel G. Achieving household food and nutrition security in societies in transition. Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2001, 10:S1-S62
2002: The final technical review meeting was held in Yangon, Myanmar from 29 to 31 May 2002 to evaluate the findings and outcomes of the study from each site, identifying the common themes and lessons learned from the study in each country, and to develop guiding principles that would be incorporated into the future developing and implementation of effective national food and nutrition strategies and policies for improving food and nutrition security for vulnerable populations.