Food and nutrition research in the Caribbean

Studies at the Caribbean Food and Nutrition Institute (CFNI) were conducted to provide information that would guide the prevention and management of major food and nutrition problems in the region. One of the Institutes mandates is to strengthen the capacity of countries to collect, analyse, interpret and use data to monitor develop, influence, strengthen or inform policy decisions, interventions and public education programmes. Over the years, numerous studies were done with countries at the individual level, however as a regional institution, the primary aim was (i) to identify the challenges and opportunities that have application across the region and (ii) to go beyond the descriptive work and elaborate the proximal and distal barriers and interventions that relate to the two major food and nutrition problems in the Caribbean -food insecurity and obesity. Central to all the research was the recognition that unless the studies are grounded in the context of poverty and inequity, the importance of the findings on food security and obesity will be consequently diminished.