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Abstract
Effective actions for the fishery and aquaculture sectors to contribute toward improving nutrition rely on an understanding of the factors influencing fish intake, particularly amongst vulnerable populations. This scoping review synthesises evidence from 33 studies in the African Great Lakes Region to examine the influence of food environments on fish acquisition and consumption. We identified only two studies that explicitly applied a food environment framework and none that linked policy conditions with the contribution of fish to diets. Economic access to fish was represented in the largest number of included studies (21 studies), followed by preferences, acceptability and desirability of fish (17 studies) and availability and physical access (14 studies). Positive perceptions of taste and low cost, relative to other animal-source foods, were drivers of fish purchases in many settings; however, limited physical and economic access were frequently identified as preventing optimal intake. In lakeside communities, fish were increasingly directed toward external markets which reduced the availability and affordability of fish for local households. Few studies considered intra-household variations in fish access according to age, gender or physiological status, which represents an important knowledge gap. There is also scope for future research on seasonal influences on fish access and the design and rigorous evaluation of programmes and policies that address one or more constraints of availability, cost, convenience and preferences.
Highlights
Achieving sustainable, equitable and large-scale improvements in food and nutrition security is amongst the greatest global challenges
Our primary research question was: What is the available evidence of factors within the food environment influencing fish acquisition and consumption by populations in the African Great Lakes Region (AGLR)? Search syntax was developed with the aim of capturing any paper referring to the acquisition or consumption of fish by populations in the eight countries, or associated with the six major lakes, of the region: Fish* AND
The use of food environment frameworks to evaluate food acquisition and consumption—considering fish within the wider diet—can provide sound evidence to guide policy and investment decisions to improve nutrition outcomes. This is urgent in areas such as the AGLR, and Sub-Saharan Africa more broadly, where food and nutrition insecurity is persistent, severe and projected to increase
Summary
Equitable and large-scale improvements in food and nutrition security is amongst the greatest global challenges. Of 41 countries in which high levels of three forms of malnutrition (i.e., child stunting, anaemia in women of reproductive age and overweight amongst women) coexist, 30 (73%) are in Africa [2]. There is growing interest in the concept of the food system to identify a broad range of entry points to address these nutritional problems [3]. This includes examining the influence of the food environment: the spectrum of external and personal factors that mediate food acquisition and consumption [4,5]. A food systems approach encompasses system-level drivers of governance and sustainability and focuses attention on the roles and responsibilities that different actors play in ensuring that food is available, accessible and acceptable to all [6]
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