Evaluations of Population, Health, and Environment (PHE) programs have found varying degrees of effectiveness in improving human health and biodiversity outcomes. PHE approaches integrate family planning with other health and environmental interventions, with the intention of addressing the challenges that link all three sectors in a holistic manner. PHE approaches may be effective at improving food security and nutrition through their family planning components, which has been shown to improve both, but little research has been done to examine how improved food security and nutrition may impact the environment and biodiversity conservation.
Improving Food Security and Nutrition Through Integrated Approaches
To strengthen its own PHE pilot projects and further examine these links, the Africa Biodiversity Collaborative Group (ABCG) conducted a literature review and shared their findings in this Africa PHE webinar. Speakers Jimmiel Mandima (African Wildlife Foundation) and Nathalie Simoneau (World Wildlife Fund) shared that despite robust studies on the interactions between population, health, and environment, few PHE projects systematically monitor and measure the impacts of nutrition and food security on biodiversity and health outcomes. Some projects, however, do show evidence that their work improves biodiversity conservation through activities that promote sustainable agricultural techniques, livelihood diversification, conservation agriculture, and other interventions.
More information about the literature review findings, best practices for integrating nutrition and food security interventions into existing PHE projects, and recommendations for incorporating cross-sector indicators in integrated projects is available in the report, “Exploring Cross-Sector Linkages Between Population, Health, Environment, Nutrition, and Food Security: A Review of Best Practices and Lessons Learned.”
This webinar is part of the Africa PHE quarterly webinar series implemented under the Policy, Advocacy, and Communication Enhanced for Population and Reproductive Health (PACE) Project. For regular updates about PHE news, opportunities, resources, and other events, subscribe to the monthly Africa PHE Updates newsletter online and follow @AfricaPHE on Twitter.
