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Best Colleagues Ever!!!!!!!!!

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Final paper revisions

I have been working on my paper about “The role of parliaments and food sovereignty” for the last few weeks and time have passed very quickly...Although my final product is not perfect, I can start to see the shape of something interesting :) I must admit that at the beginning I was a bit skeptical about these paper but now I am glad I have almost finished the work and excited to see the results.It is always amazing to see your hard work materialized into something that you will keep always with you .I always say that beginnings are always messy but beautiful at the end (at least on my case hehe)

Together with the paper, I had the most wonderful experience that I will always carry with me for life. I adore all the FAO team and I always felt home. I will definitely miss to work at UN Regional Office surrounded by these amazing people. Nevertheless I will keep on collaborating with them from Sweden and I feel very lucky about that part too.

The experience definitely worth to come all the way to Chile:)

Guys ,I am now struggling with the paper final revisions and it is going to keep me busy for the upcoming week. I have still much to review and much to rewrite, I have asked some teachers to give me some feedback too.Hopefully I can share with you at some point :)

For those who are travelling home in the next days ,I wish you a great journey and lots of love.

See you on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean soon.

xxx

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“We are not hippies we are happies”

With these silly title I start this post :) hoping to make you smile and bring a bit of light into your week.

Now let’s get serious...Yesterday was the International Happiness Day like every other 20th of March. The United Nations declared 20 March the International Day of Happiness to recognise the relevance of happiness and well-being as universal goals. UN offices organized a motivational talk by a company called Belab.

Belab is an Inspirational Leadership Center, which seeks to support people to reinvent themselves in their field of development through the discovery, activation and expansion of people's passions and abilities.I found the talk very interesting what drives me to do a bit more research to find out what happiness looks like from different angles.

What is happiness?

The ancient Greeks were among the first to explore the link between the physical body and our emotional responses. Happiness is like every other emotional experience, the result of electrochemical reactions in the brain brought on by stimuli. Without entering into much complexity,biology or chemistry ,I will present 4 chemicals that once released inside our body make us feel really good:) 

Dopamine,Seroronin, Oxytocin and Endorphin.In case you haven't seen yet ,there is a great video in youtube showing how a happy cell looks like (btw it is very cute) you can find it on this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqYMSKo91eo  where the cute molecules of the protein myosin drag a ball of endorphins along an active filament into the inner part of the brain's parietal cortex, which produces feelings of happiness.

Although that is the scientific explanation ,other approaches biological, psychological, economic, religious and philosophical must be taken into consideration to have a broader perspective.The common denominator is that Happiness is a mental or emotional state of well-being and not always very easy to see or to define.

For example,there are plenty of studies backing up the idea that meditation has a positive impact in our health and well being.But why and how?are our cells so dependent on our state of mind or how we feel?

Whatever happiness is, we know that we want it!we could call it many other ways... and that is just somehow good. Lets dig a bit more on that...

How can we measure happiness?

A 2012 review of more than 200 studies found a connection between happiness and its positive psychological attributes. It is really amazing the power of our brain and how it affects to our general health and well-being but how can we measure how happy we are?????

I found on Wikipedia that Psychologist Martin Seligman asserts that happiness is not solely derived from external, momentary pleasures, and he affirms that humans seem happiest when they have:Pleasure (tasty food, warm baths, etc.)Engagement (or flow, the absorption of an enjoyed yet challenging activity)Relationships (social ties have turned out to be extremely reliable indicator of happiness)Meaning (a perceived quest or belonging to something bigger),Accomplishments (having realized tangible goals).

Dr. Laura Kubzansky, Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences and Director of the Society and Health Laboratory at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.Also she serves as co-Director of the Lee Kum Sheung Center for Health and Happiness,has published many studies that connects happiness and health.For example some her publications : “The promise of well-being interventions for improving health risk behaviors” or “The prospective association between positive psychological well-being and diabetes” among others.I highly recommend you to look at this link where you will read about keys to a happier, healthier life :

 https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/magazine/happiness-stress-heart-disease/

The number of interesting journals and studies related to the topic are endless.

But how can be happiness measured?how well one likes the life one lives?

Apparently,the way to measure for research purposes, it is to ask the individual to give his or her opinion on one’s own happiness situation. The system is based in surveys either in face-to-face interviews or on questionnaires presented on the web.They measure the frequency where verbal and numerical scales are used.It can be measured in an individual or collective level.Others like : The Subjective Happiness Scale (SHS), The Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) or the the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS).

World Happiness report 2017

The first World Happiness Report was published in April, 2012, in support of the UN High Level Meeting on happiness and well-being. Since then there are annual publications that put in spot the happiest countries on earth.Latest ranking placed Norway as the happiest country in the world followed by Denmark ,Iceland and Switzerland.

Find more details here :

http://worldhappiness.report/ed/2017/

The ranking is based on the following variables: happiness,GDP per capita ,social support , health and life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity and perception of corruption.

Alright since we have some people in class from these “happy” countries ,will be great to know your opinion. I certainly find some aspects of these report superficial. For example if we look other indicators like suicide rates (info below from WHO )seems like in Europe people commit suicide more than in other regions around the world or if we look at the ranking in Europe ,Iceland is over the suicidal average in the region...I just leave it for your own judgement and opinion.

How can I achieve happiness?

Although it is very personal,there are some patterns that can be followed.For example you can improve happiness by eating healthier, socializing more, meditating, giving more to others, etc.

Nevertheless, I am not an expert in the matter but I personally have experienced that when you get to know yourself ,when you listen to your body, and when give you space to reconnect whit nature and what matter in life, can have a powerful effects on your everyday.Also I found that having a purpose in life keeps you alive and moving. Some of us also believe that giving to others or trying to make a change in the world (one by one) is part of these process.

Love more,laugh more, enjoy more and specially whatever you go and you do , be present. We are surrounded by so many things that distract us from what matters.

I found in sports ,yoga and meditation a good way to relief worry and tension apart from keeping us active.There are studies linking yoga and meditation to mental health and well-being ,you can find in PubMed as usual.

I think will be interesting that new rankings could appear, instead to measure  the individual GDP ,they could focus on “Gross national happiness and health” of the population.

SOME FOODS THAT RAISE YOUR SEROTONIN:

OTHER TIPS FOR YOUR EVERYDAY LIFE:

I have read some great books that were very enlightening.If you are more curious about it ,I can send you some bibliography.Below you will read wise words from the book “The art of happiness” by Dalai Lama.

With his wise and beautiful words I end my post.

Hope you enjoyed the post and that you always find your way to happiness.

xx

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A minute of silence.

Yesterday the United Nations staff in Chile met at the headquarters of CEPAL to show their solidarity with the people of Syria when the six years of the war in that country are fulfilled. At the Sub regional Headquarters of CEPAL in Mexico also joined this minute of silence convened by the United Nations in their offices around the world to call for an end to the conflict.

We met in the Peace Bell Square at 12:00 pm. The UN Peace Bell is a symbol of freedom and peace, honoring our past, celebrating our present and inspiring our future.

I felt very touched by the event,it was a good moment to remember all the people still living in the hell of Syria and to show our solidarity to everyone that suffered/suffering the horrible consequences of war.

Although we are just demonstrating, I believe it is important that UN members take a stand and send a powerful message. 

In the picture above, we are holding portraits of Syrian 6-year-olds, the entire UN organization mobilized Wednesday to make its message clear on the sixth anniversary of Syria's civil war. The UN wants to send a strong message with these campaign, children are #notatarget. You can see around social media posts of people holding photos of the Syrian 6-year-olds.

War is stopping generations to hope, to hope for life ,to hope for love.

I would like to share with you some quotes.Please reflect few minutes in the impact of our actions in the world, what is our life like and try to imagine how a normal day could be for a person that has been living in the hell of Syria the past 6 years.

I read a great article talking about the campaign #NOTATARGET en BBC and they quote the words of a kid:  "I wanted to become a doctor," Ahmad, from Idlib, Syria, told UNICEF as he sat in a bombed-out school. "Perhaps I won't become anything, because our school was attacked." Generations of children will grow with no hope of a better life ,only accepting the torture and suffering of their own reality. I found this Malala quote:

Martin Luther King lecturing us :

Legend John Lennon.Words of hope for us:

Aren´t we all humans ?then why can´t we live in PEACE?

Thank you for reading!Spread Love and Compassion!

Irene

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What is food sovereignty???I love infographics

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Be proud of who you are.Happy International Women's Day! Celebrate women's achievement and commit to driving gender parity    

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Totally inadequate

Sadly and once again the American Food System is taking over… What does it mean? That means that in the Chilean supermarkets exist an hegemony of processed food vs fresh, that the access to adequate food is not guaranteed, that the prices of nutritious food are much higher than high density foods, that the sugary drinks areas are huge, and that the high fat and high sugary products are allocated in “high traffic areas” at the supermarkets and that there is an aggressive marketing campaigns promoting these products .

After telling you about my frustrations…let’s get into analyze the situation.

1-Origins

Since the twentieth century, like in other developing countries, Chile suffered a high population growth along with industrialization and urbanization that generated a rapid change in the lifestyle of the Chilean people.

This rapid changes because of the industrialization and urbanization has been associated to the increased of energy-dense foods and caloric beverages, animal-source foods, and caloric sweeteners added to many other foods.

2-What is the result of change in dietary patterns?

The diet of Chilean people is not healthy. The last National Food Consumption Survey showed that only 5% of the population is adequately fed and 95% require changing their habits.

It is observed that the national basket is characterized by a high level of ready-to-eat products that represent 55.4% of the total calories purchased.Several studies affirm Chileans today buy few foods that require culinary preparations and choose ultra-processed products that can be consumed instantly, quickly and on any occasion.

In Chile, the main foods not or minimally processed in the diet are meats, milk and fruits.

A predominance of food groups with higher caloric intake, saturated fats, sugars, salt and less fiber, which are affecting the health of the population and the increase of NCDs. If you look at the graph below based on WHO data you can see that Chile was  by 2014 the country in Latin America with the highest % of obese people.Chile is the third in all the continent with the highest mass index of the population.Women (mujeres in Spanish) as you can see on the second graph below have a higher % .(WHO)See figures below:

Note to the graph above : overweight (sobrepeso)  obesity (obesidad)

3- What is the Government doing?

Nutritional labeling law and new food guides have been recently implemented, however it is essential to inform the population about the risks associated with the purchase of ready-to-eat products and the importance of increasing the consumption of natural or minimally processed foods; Cereals and grains, legumes, vegetables and fruits.

Although this might have some sort of impact ,I find the labeling system very confusing.These labels are stick in all the products based on the caloric, fat, sugar and salt content.See below:

Now, I think this could end up giving wrong message to consumers.Should an avocado be label “high in fat” or fruit “high in sugar”???

My opinion is that the new labeling law is creating a sense of unnecessary panic between the general population.They are still uneducated about the nutritional topics or right dietary patterns (and lifestyle) and when they go to the supermarket they are bombarding with all the labels information.There are so many products adverted 0% of fat and sugar in the supermarkets with low nutrient content that could be a non sense to chose but again there are no strong nutritional education campaigns.

4- Conclusion

I think there is so much potential to improve diets trough awareness and sensibilization in Chile.They are the producers of many of the nutritious food we consume in other parts of the world so it is hard to understand the high prevalence of overweight and levels of malnutrition between different population groups.

As always the most vulnerable are the ones with low purchase power that cannot afford in many cases the healthy options.

The access is only guaranteed to an inadequate form of food.

My observations about possible causes based on my personal experience :

High prices of nutritious food

Strong marketing campaigns of high sugary and processed products

Uneducated consumers

Sedentary lifestyle

Low interest from the institutions (difficult to find any study about processed food and consumer behavior)

Cultural factors

What do you think ?How is in your internship countries?I would appreciate any comments :) I want to know if any of my fellow students are facing same challenges.

Feliz fin de semana!

Irene

Ref:http://apps.who.int/nutrition/landscape/report.aspx?iso=chl

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What I knew & What is new

I consider myself as a knowledgeable person. I also consider myself as a humble, modest person with a good sense of humor. Being knowledgeable for me means acknowledging that there are no limits to knowledge. My attitude is to improve my aptitude to observe and listen to anyone and to learn from everyone since nobody knows everything but everybody knows something.

I’ll dedicate this entry to share some of the knowledge I’ve gained as an intern at ICDC in the last weeks and hope you keep an open mind to take some of it in. Besides, it is in my deep intention to inform all and inspire some to become active volunteers  to supportn ICDC’s main mission to protect breastfeeding through monitoring industry’s compliance with Code. I hope I haven’t lost any reader up to this point.

Code Summary

I would like to give you a short summary of the Code which will give you a good overview of its AIM, SCOPE and CONTENT. This will basically enable you to obtain fundamental monitor skills to report Code violations back to IBFAN-ICDC.

AIM 

The aim of the Code and subsequent resolution is “to contribute to the provision (regulation) of safe and adequate nutrition for infants and the proper use of breastmilk substitutes, when these are necessary, on the basis of adequate information and through appropriate marketing distribution”.  

I want to stress one important fact right away: The Code does not stop or prevent companies from selling products covered by the s Scope of the Code. The Code only bans BANS companies to promote these products.

SCOPE and Definitions

The Scope applies to all breastmilk substitutes or any foods being marketed or otherwise represented as a partial or total replacement for breastmilk. It also covers feeding bottles and teats. 

A breastmilk substitute should be understood to include any milks …, in either liquid or powdered form, that are specifically marketed for feeding infants and young children up to the age of 3 years including follow-up formula and growing-up milks.”

Therefore, the Scope includes following products

Infant formula (for infants age 0 - 6 or 12 months)

Follow-up milks* (normally marketed for children 6-12 or 24 months)

Growing-up milks* (normally marketed for babies 12 – 36 months)

Bottle-fed complementary foods*

Foods and beverages such as cereals, jarred foods, juices, infant teas and mineral water that are represented as suitable to be fed to infants less than 6 months old*    

The Code also applies to feeding bottles and teats! 

Remember: World Health Assembly Resolution 54.2. (2001) urges member states “to strengthen activities and develop new approaches to protect, promote and support exclusive breastfeeding for six months as a global public health recommendation …and to provide safe and appropriate complementary foods, with continued breastfeeding for up to two years of age or beyond. 

Complementary food means any food, whether manufactured or locally prepared, suitable as a complement to breastmilk or to infant formula  

All I can think of is a Picture is literally worth a 1000 words. 

Products within the white field of the curve that are marketed or presented as a partial or total replacement for breastmilk for infants and young children up to 3 years, are considered as a breastmilk substitute and are covered by the Code.

Products within the blue field are  complementary foods, as long as they are NOT promoted for infants below six months. These products are NOT covered by Scope of the Code. 

The Code and the resolutions are intended to be adopted as a minimum requirement. Therefore, IBFAN encourages national governments to enforce laws that go beyond the minimum standard and extend the Scope of the Code.

Points 3 to 10 of the 10-point summary (see attachment below) are essential for you to recognize and define Code violations. In the following brief version of the comprehensive monitoring report Breaking the Rules 2014, you can see many examples of Code violations.

You Wanna Bet? 

I bet the majority has only skimmed everything so far. I DON’T blame you. It’s very technical and not personal at all - if you feel this is boring, just scroll down for nice pictures :) I won’t be offended.

HOWEVER, I would like to challenge some of my peers who are right spread all over the world interning in different organisations. I’d like to reach to you, particularly those who live in low and middle-income countries and work in health care facilities. I’m calling on you to be more involved in ICDC’s mission to protect breastfeeding through monitoring industry compliance. It would be incredible to see GNH students contribute actively to ICDC’s success by sending in violations you discover in your surroundings.

 To all of you out there in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Uganda, Zambia, Barbados, Chile, Mexico, Thailand and Philippine, LISTEN UP! I’m particularly keen on your involvement- I know that you know who I’m talking about, there’s no need to list names here.  

Violations can be send in a very quick and easy form through this website: https://vnhih.enketo.kobotoolbox.org/webform You only need to fill out a few fields and submit it. Remember to take pictures and upload them. Code violations of interest are “Promotion to mothers and in shops” (BTR, 2014:10), Promotion in healthcare facilities and to healthcare workers (BTR 2014:18) as well as Labels (BTR, 2014:27). Just click the titles and have a look at the examples.Do not hesitate to get in touch with me if you have questions.

Enough technical, I’ll continue with lectures on the Code another time.

Let’s get a bit personal and look at what I have been doing so far?

My main occupation in the office is the next global monitoring report Breaking the Rules, 2017 (BTR). This includes comprehensive research on the biggest manufacturers and distributors of breastmilk substitutes and establishing company profiles and overall marketing trends. Further tasks I’m in charge of, include assessing marketing policies of various companies and demonstrating how they differ from the Code and how companies basically find their way to bypass the Code.

I have also been responsible for specific case reports. This involves analysing violations that have been sent by volunteers and collected throughout the last 3 years, assessing trends and reporting which tools and marketing strategies are commonly used by certain companies in certain countries. Right now, I’m focusing on Russia and Turkey where violations occur often due to weak code implementation. IBFAN’s monitoring capacity may never match with variety of reckless strategies companies undermine recommended breastfeeding for the sake of profit, but the amount of whistle-blowing resulting from monitoring reminds companies that they are being watched. This pushes them to behave better and by IBFAN’s experience they do!  I really feel useful and highly appreciate being part on holding companies to account and naming and shaming them for their endless and relentless tactics to influence the behavior of vulnerable groups for the sake of money. It of course boils my blood to be exposed to such ignorant, money-oriented and aggressive opponents, however it also raises my passion to find ways to have an impact on improving children’s lives through fair, sound and legitimate regulations and laws.

I’m also allowed  to make use of my expertise as a Public Health Nutrition student to bring a new way to assess marketing strategies of companies. This includes analysing studies used by various companies as a reference for nutritional claims. These are rarely based on sound scientific evidence resulting in biased conclusions and nutritional claims on products. My academic supervisor Aileen Robertson, a Public Health Nutritionist herself and an expert in international research, has been a great help supporting me with her expertise and input. I look forward to yield some results from my ongoing analysis.

Speaking of great supervisors, I would like to mention my supervisor here on the ground: Joo Kean Yeong. She has been impressing me with her dedication and commitment to her work as well as her strong ethical values representing IBFAN-ICDC’s mission.  Joo Kean is the legal advisor of the ICDC and has been allowing me to act both backstage and on stage.

Backstage, I have been allowed to help analyzing and reviewing different draft laws we have received to provide legal and technical advice whether these laws reflect the aims and principles of the Code and subsequent WHA resolutions.  These past weeks, I helped to review two draft laws from Europe: the UK and Romania and it was interesting to see the different processes the initiators of these draft laws have to undergo to give effect to the Code at the national level given the different social and legislative framework the two countries have.

These tasks have been valuable opportunities to understand how laws are initiated and how long the patch can be stretched until these laws come into effect. As Aileen would say, “Guys, it’s tough!”

I also get to act on stage, taking some minor supporting roles:  2 weeks ago, I had the chance to accompany Joo Kean to Kuala Lumpur. ICDC was invited as an advisory capacity to an internal meeting at the Department of Nutrition of the Ministry of Health. The meeting had been arranged to discuss improved Code implementation and how this could in future intersect with the country’s obligations under WTO.

It was very exciting to sit among government officials in charge of policy making. Studying in theory how hard it is to draft and implement policies is one story, experiencing it in real is a whole new chapter. This experience was just confirming the importance of inter-sectoral collaboration for the success of a policy. It was also a good example to observe how common it is that different stakeholders work in their own silos, disconnected from other sectors and representing only their own interests.

The chairperson was very receiving and supportive of the subject matter. I was also allowed to speak up and share my thoughts and expertise on the impact of marketing on consumption behaviour and could also comment on issues such as the meaning of Codex Alimentarius as a global reference for national food safety and international food trade (Thanks Alexandr Parlesak!) The next meeting has been arranged in one month and the ICDC will continue to support the group with advice and help if needed.

“Knowledge is of no value unless you put it in real practice” (Anton Chekhov)

At the moment, I’m getting ready to hold a training session for a group of health workers (doctors, nurses, midwifes) on the Scope of the Code. This is a great opportunity to share my knowledge with professionals who are important agents to protect breastfeeding from inappropriate promotion of foods for infants and young children. I’ll tell how it went next time and call it a day for today.

I hope you have the feeling that you know a bit more than you knew before. I’d be grateful if you shared your knowledge with many more aiming to provide a better present that makes the future worth living.

Getting ready to for an internal meeting at the Ministry of Health in KL

Discovering KL with locals.

Jungle in the middle of the city. 

Penang, the island that has been hosting me for the last weeks. 

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Dreaming is believing,believing is achieving #justsaying

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Get started!

I sadly finished my holiday period around beautiful Chile and now it is time to work. I arrived to the F.A.O office and UN building in Santiago on Monday 20th .I was very excited wondering how the work will be and how many inspiring people I will meet on the way. First impressions were good, people are very helpful and lovely. My main objective is to create a paper where to show the relevant work of the parliaments on the fight against hunger .

So far I have been getting to know the F.A.O family and procedures. I have started to do some research,much readings and meetings with different people involved in the project.I want to tell you a bit more about the specific project I am involved and why is so important to end with hunger in the region.

Project:

“The Latin America and the Caribbean without Hunger Initiative(HFLACI)is a commitment of the countries and organizations of the region, supported by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), to help create the conditions to eradicate hunger Permanent form for the year 2025.”

It all started during the Latin American Summit on Chronic Hunger, held in Guatemala in 2005, this initiative deepens on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with a more specific ambitious goal number 2 in the fight against hunger: to eradicate hunger in all forms within the region by 2030. It also commits to “universal access to safe, nutritious and sufficient food at all times of the year. This will require sustainable food production systems and resilient agricultural practices, equal access to land, technology and markets and international cooperation on investments in infrastructure and technology to boost agricultural productivity.”

Since its creation, the Initiative has been strongly supported by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID). Both entities formed the Project to Support the Initiative Latin America and the Caribbean without Hunger , which was constituted in the Secretariat of the Initiative and in its technical support.

In order to achieve this goal, the Hunger –Free Latin America and the Caribbean initiative Support Project works on:

1-Institutional Development

2-Awareness-raising and social mobilization

3-Monitoring and evaluation system

4-Public policy and programme formulation and implementation

It is a very complex administrative work, I am surrounded by lawyers, economist and people that really know much about legal-economic framework so challenges are many.

This Initiative have been running now for 8 years and they made great achievements on the way. It is very encouraging that the parliaments are so committed to end hunger in the region and they are starting to create a network to help other regions with same issues like Africa. FAO and the Initiative recently shared the experience of the fronts (success and failures) with the Pan-African Parliament.This opened a new global alliance of parliaments that have the will to generate sustainable policies that improve nutrition and end hunger.

Sub-projects within the initiative:

Parliamentary Front against Hunger in Latin America and the Caribbean. 

The Front has 400 members of parliaments from 31 countries in LAC.It is a voluntary membership.The only requirement is that they should be willing to address hunger in their countries and include it in the priorities of their political agenda.

Solidarity is the base of these relationships and cooperations between the countries and their parliaments.

They need the legislation support to react with public policies that are more effective for the realization of the right too food.

Observatory of the Right to Food in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Lovely Javiera is in charge of this great project for students of Universities in the region. It promotes academic debate trough representatives of different universities about the right to food. Once a year FAO encourage multi-disciplinary students from these Universities to participate in a competition. Students can write a research project where to analyze effectiveness and impact of current legislation regarding the right to food. There is a great prize for the winners including travelling to other universities, economic reward and research grant for half a year.

Regional forum to discuss food and nutrition security issues.

It is a two-day workshop “FSN Forum policy dialogues: contributing to food security and nutrition policy processes at country and regional level”

The topics to address are :food security and nutrition policies, engagement of stakeholders into FSN policy processes, to build a partnership of experts and last one, to create a link between LAC and the CFS.

Link between LAC region and the Committee on World Food Security Forum (CFS)

This participation gives more visibility to the ALC region and its relevant issues, trying to include them in the CFS agenda.

WOW seems like a really long post already but I hope you can get an idea what is going on at the office:)Wish you all a good weekend!

Irene

xxx

Relevant links:

http://parlamentarioscontraelhambre.org/en

http://www.fao.org/in-action/apoyo-ialcsh/en/

http://www.ohchr.org/EN/pages/home.aspx

http://plataformacelac.org/en

http://www.fao.org/righttofood/right-to-food-home/en/

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Love it🙌🙌

Refugees and immigrants “stuck in the middle”

As you might have realised, my interest in refugee and immigrants and their welfare, is something that I care a lot about and wish to have an impact on in the future.

Growing up in an area of Copenhagen, Nørrebro, where there is great diversity, made me appreciated all the beautiful things about people from different cultures living together. I have always been exposed to different amazing foods - shopping at the local Arabic store, meeting diverse people speaking different languages, different ways of expression. 

I am happy I grew up in a neighbourhood where people accept and appreciate each other’s differences and learn from each other!

Unfortunately, the world-wide trend of fear and hate towards those that “stands out” of the norms and ways of doing things has created a huge gap in the Danish population that splits our society in two – those that are scared and affected by the negative discourse in politics and media, and those that are open minded.

Of cause this is a black and white way to look at the situation, but you cannot ignore this is trend many European and other western parts of the world are undergoing.

Back in the 60’s and 70’s Denmark where in need of workforce and therefore they invited so called “gæstearbejdere (guest workers)” from Turkey, Jugoslav, Pakistan, Vietnam amongst other countries. They were expected to work in Denmark for a while and then expected to return to their countries of origin. In many cases, they ended up staying in Denmark since they had started their lives with work, kids etc. and became “immigrants”. In the 80’s there was an increase in unemployment in Denmark and immigrants became scapegoats for this development and the overall Danish hospitality turned into marginalisation and stigmas, especially towards the second generation of immigrants that generally has to work harder to get accepted in “our” Danish society.

The marginalisation has in some cases created a “them and us” and many other ethnic groups live in more isolated areas where the kids almost only go to school with kids from the same neighbourhoods and have the same backgrounds. This lack of contact with each other and each other’s cultures is one missing link in Danish integration policies which is affecting minority groups in many ways, i.e. their educational status, social and socioeconomic status and vulnerability towards poor health.

Even though ethnic minorities only make up a small part of the total number of patients in the Danish health care system, they are often perceived as a vulnerable patient group. There are many factors influencing their vulnerability such as culturally conditioned diseases patterns, different perceptions of diseases, traumas and communication barriers that appears between health care personnel and a patient with a different ethnic and cultural background. The meeting between personnel and patients with different ethnic backgrounds can be affected by insecurities and anticipations from both parts. The distrust to the system and feeling of being stigmatised or misunderstood result in patients barely seek the health care system.      

In Denmark, everybody has equal rights to access health care. To fulfil this in relation to migrant populations it’s important to identify the challenges that are linked to the meeting between ethnic minority groups and the healthcare system, find the relevant solutions and choose the intervention methods that are appropriate to reach health equity (Sundhedsstyrelsen, 2010). Looking at the Migration Integration Index (MIPEX) 40 major changes since 2007 changing DK’s MIPEX score. Instead of one clear reform small changes over time have been made. In 2007-2010 with a centre-right government the tendency showed an overall score of -2 within 6 policy areas. From 2010-2014 when the centre-left was governing there was an overall score of +10 within 7 policy areas. The current centre-right government is supported by the DK People’s Party in exchange for immigration and integration restrictions. The MIPEX Health score, which includes different dimensions such as entitlements, access policies, responsive services and mechanisms for change were all scored within halfway favourable (41-59) in 2014 and had an overall MIPEX score of 59 ranking DK number 13 out of 38 countries, compared to Sweden with an overall score of 78 ranking them number 1 (MIPEX, 2016).

This leads me to talk about the ECDC Guidance on Prevention and Assessment of Communicable Diseases Among Newly Arrived Migrants to the EU/EEA and the supportive Value and Preferences Paper I am currently working on with Dr. Pottie and his team to finalize in March.

The guidance is to provide support through scientific recommendations based on available qualitative and quantitative data, to national policy makers, those responsible for the formation of health care systems, national migrant health programs, and Non-Governmental Organisations with interest in vulnerable migrant populations. This guidance is specifically for prevention of infectious diseases, where HIV, TB, Hep B, Hep C, Intestinal Parasites and Vaccine preventable diseases are prioritised and what public health interventions that are suitable for improving the health of vulnerable migrants arrived within 5 years and to maintain the overall public health in host countries. The Guidance differentiates between the EU13 and EU15 countries when it comes to recommendations, since the diversity of Europe makes it impossible to make “one size fits all” recommendations. The different regions of Europe, southern, eastern, northern and western Europe have different levels of acceptance of refugees and migrants and different levels of adoption and implementation. The different settings such as when refugees and migrant’s entry, in the detainment and in community integration are interconnected with the diversity of Europe since their integration policies and economies vary. This is important when understanding barriers and opportunities within the different settings.

Average numbers on integration policies in different regions: Shows that immigrants face greater obstacles in EU13 countries, where there are less immigrants, (Baltics, JP, Central and Southeast Europe) when it comes to integration policies. Immigrants have more opportunities and equal rights in wealthier countries and with older and bigger history of immigrants such as Western Europe (EU15) and North American, New Zeeland and Australia (Though politic might have more impact on integration than history of immigration) (MIPEX, 2016)  

In relation to the guidance I am currently working on data extraction from selected studies to synthesize a paper based on migrant’s values and preferences when it comes to their own health. This Systematic Review highlights important factors that will have an influence on the implementation of the guidance recommendations. - In other words, the recommendations must be feasible. To make it feasible it is important to understand how people with different backgrounds perceive their own health and what knowledge they have towards diseases, in this case communicable diseases, and their feelings towards seeking health care when arriving in a new and different country.

Data extraction is intense and takes time, but this whole process of finalising the guidance document and “backup” papers, participate in meetings with the team and stakeholders has made me understand that making policy recommendations are all about politics, where evidence can be an important tool.  

- Well, I’ve enjoyed having a long weekend off, enjoying my birthday today in sunny canada!

References

MIPEX (2016) Migrant integration policy index | MIPEX 2015. Available at: http://www.mipex.eu (Accessed: 20 February 2017).

Sundhedsstyrelsen (2010) Etniske minoriteter i det danske sundhedsvaesen – en antologi. Available at: http://www.sst.dk/~/media/9FFE65223C8A47328A51CD7DBAFA7466.ashx (Accessed: 20 February 2017).

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Right to Food

My first task before starting my internship was to enroll in an online course by F.A.O that introduced me to the “Right to Food” legal framework. I was really surprised how interconnected is the legal side of food security with our studies, also how important is to have a basic understanding of human rights agreements that can legally guarantee and protect the access to food for the population.

In 1999, the right to food was interpreted by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) in the General Comment 12 establishing that:

“The right to adequate food is realized when every man, woman and child, alone or in community with others, has the physical and economic access at all times to adequate food or means for its procurement.”

The most important legally binding instrument on the right to food is the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).

To ensure and guarantee the access governments should follow seven principles that should be integrated into the work with the right to food. The “PANTHER” principles relate to the process that should be followed in addressing the right to adequate food:

In the past year, we have worked on different concepts and sometimes I felt a bit lost when it came to using the right terms. In the case you were in the same situation, I include below a clear answer to the main differences between food security, right to food and food sovereignty frameworks as it was defined by F.A.O during the course:

-Food Security: it is a technical concept and is needs-based where the beneficiaries include vulnerable groups, objects of potential program benefits.

-Right to Adequate Food: it is a legal and right-based concept, which focuses on all vulnerable groups as rights holders and primarily the hungry.

-Food sovereignty: it is a political concept which focuses on the needs of small producers, less on urban issues and introduces new rights not yet approved (eg: right to produce)

In our studies, we have mainly focused on Food Security: availability, access, stability and utilization. These pillars combined with the acknowledgment of human rights is what take us to the right to adequate food.

Human rights are not negotiable, while policy goals change according to the political environment. I feel we need more commitment from the Governments in this matter.In many cases, Governments make decisions against human rights that ultimately lead to food insecurity.It is frustrating when I read things on paper and there is so little action, do you agree? #letsmakeithappen #bethechange #wecandoit

I will continue enjoying my holiday for now but please keep on posting, it is so amazing to see how good you are all doing.

Muchos abrazos from Chile :)

PS: F.A.O “Right to Food” online course is open to anyone interested.Please find link below.Many interesting F.A.O online courses available to all.

 http://www.fao.org/elearning/?pgLanguage=en&leftItemSelected=food-security-courses#/elc/en/courseCategories

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New adventure...

Just a few days before my departure, I look back and reflect on all the decisions I made in the past two years that took me just right here, about to start a new adventure.

My new adventure will start in 5 days when I will travel to Chile in South America.I will intern for 8 weeks with F.A.O. where I will collaborate in a very ambitious project called “Zero Hunger” for Latin America and Caribbean region.The projects aim is to eradicate hunger in the region by 2025.

I am very excited about all I will learn and the new challenges ahead.

I have gone far on achieving my dreams and I can't believe once again it is happening! #feelinggrateful. For those stil in doubts, if they should give up on comfort in order to achieve dreams , I would say, do not wait until tomorrow, wake up and do it #nowornever #ifyoucandreamityoucanhaveit

All the best to all my GNH fellow students and friends who are being challenged in the same way by all the new exciting experiences and adventures to come.

XXX