GeoNutrition aims to inform strategies
to alleviate micronutrient deficiencies (MNDs) primarily in Ethiopia and
Malawi, providing a framework through which to (1) improve baseline estimates
of MNDs, (2) identify and understand factors underlying MNDs, and (3) test
interventions to alleviate MNDs. GeoNutrition takes a geographical
approach to nutrition. Within the natural sciences, we can interrogate large-scale
soil, agricultural and landscape datasets to understand the factors affecting
the supply of micronutrients to crops and food systems. Within the social
sciences, we can explore how processes relating to urbanization, gender,
demographic change, and market access influence health and economic outcomes
through nutritional pathways. Through layering and integrating spatial
datasets, GeoNutrition enables future food systems scenarios, for
example, agriculture-for-nutrition policies such as dietary diversification and
biofortification, to be explored in the context of environmental and social
change.
The GeoNutrition team
brings together partners from multiple disciplines, spanning soil and crop
sciences, agriculture, human nutrition, geography, economics, and ethics.
Project partners include the University of Nottingham, the London School of
Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Addis Ababa University, Lilongwe University of
Agriculture and Natural Resources, Rothamsted Research, CIMMYT, ICRISAT, ICRAF
and the British Geological Survey. GeoNutrition is funded from May
2017-June 2021 through grants from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences
Research Council and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.