A new African-led initiative to advance healthier, more equitable and climate-resilient food systems has launched in Accra, Ghana – at the University of Ghana on April 30, 2026. The African Regional Collaborative for Agriculture, Nutrition and Health (ANH-ARC) brings together leading African research and policy institutions to strengthen evidence, policy and investments in food systems and nutrition.
By fostering the African community of experts to generate and place rigorous, policy-ready evidence at the centre of decision-making on diets, nutrition, and food systems transformation the ANH-ARC will accelerate collaborations and actions to transform food systems, improve diets, nutrition and health across the continent. Positioned as a regional science–policy platform, ANH-ARC will generate, synthesise, and translate high-quality evidence into actionable policy and financing options and ensure the initiative embeds gender equity and climate resilience as central priorities.
The initiative is co-led by the University of Ghana (Ghana), the Policy Studies Institute (Ethiopia)
and Stellenbosch University (South Africa). The ANH-ARC is part of the global ANH Academy Science–Policy Platform, convened by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine in collaboration with Tufts University and the University of Sheffield and funded with UK
International Development from the UK Government and the Gates Foundation Food systems in Africa are under intensifying pressure from intersecting challenges, including
malnutrition in all its forms, rising food prices, rapid urbanisation, climate change, external global
pressures, and fragmented governance. While the evidence base has expanded significantly, its
translation into policy and practice remains uneven. ANH-ARC is expected to strengthen the interface between science, policy, and implementation.
Professor Amos Laar, Principal Investigator of the ANH-ARC at the University of Ghana, emphasised that current food systems decisions are too often fragmented across agriculture, nutrition, and health, and that the Collaborative seeks to address this gap by grounding action in an integrated, cross-sectoral evidence and African lived realities. He underscored that “agriculture, nutrition, and health can no longer operate in silos – evidence must deliberately connect them to inform policy-relevant decisions.”
Dr Alebel Weldesilassie of the Policy Studies Institute (PSI) emphasised the critical importance of investment and financing policy alignments, stating that “effective food systems transformation for improving access to affordable, nutritious foods for all in Africa requires not only robust
evidence, but also coherent financing strategies and policy coordination across sectors.”
On his part, Prof Kennedy Dzama, Dean of the Faculty of AgriSciences at Stellenbosch University
observed that “strengthening governance systems and accountability mechanisms will be critical to translating knowledge into sustained impact at scale.”
Echoing similar sentiments, Dr Tseday Mekasha, Integration Lead of ANH-ARC at the Policy Studies Institute, emphasised that for food systems transformation to be effective and sustainable, gender, equity and climate considerations must also be embedded in how evidence is generated, policies are designed, and decisions are made. Without this, interventions risk overlooking distributional consequences and may fail to deliver outcomes that are resilient under increasing climate pressures.
Speaking on behalf of the global ANH Academy, Dr Suneetha Kadiyala of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine highlighted the importance of African leadership, noting that “platforms such as ANH-ARC are important not only because they strengthen the translation of
evidence into policy, but because they model a more equitable and regionally grounded way of producing knowledge itself. Sustainable change depends not simply on better evidence, but on
partnership structures that redistribute voice, leadership and agenda-setting closer to where
decisions and impacts are felt.”
“As Chief Scientific Adviser, I’m proud of the UK’s investment in the ANH Academy and of what the Africa Regional Collaborative represents – a strong commitment to equitable, Africa-led research with real-world impact.” said Professor Sir John Edmunds, Chief Scientific Adviser, from the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). “It will strengthen scientific capability and connect researchers and policymakers to address some of today’s most urgent development challenges.”
“The Gates Foundation is proud to support the ANH-ARC initiative at a critical moment for African food systems,” said Ana Maria Loboguerrero, Director of Adaptive and Equitable Food Systems at the Gates Foundation. “Bringing together leading research and policy experts from Ghana, Ethiopia, and South Africa, the collaborative will improve access to safe, affordable, and healthy diets by leveraging rigorous evidence rooted in local realities to inform climate-sensitive
food and agriculture policies, —leading to healthier, more equitable outcomes across the continent.”
Strategic partnerships will support the design and delivery of the ambitious ANH-ARC goals, these
include four sub-regional nodes (representing Southern, Western, Eastern, and Northern Africa),
as well as the International Network for Food Environments Research, Monitoring and Action Support (INFORMAS), the Africa Food Environment Research Network (FERN), Réseau de Recherche sur les Politiques et Systèmes Alimentaires en Afrique de l’Ouest (REPSAO), the ANH Academy Food Environment Working Group (FEWG), the Centre for Coordination of Agricultural Research and Development for Southern Africa (CCARDESA), Southern African Food Lab, the Guild/ARUA Cluster on Food Environment Actions for the Promotion of Health (FE4H CoRE),
and the Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich.
The initiative shows alignment with continental frameworks such as the African Union’s Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), the Kampala Declaration, and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), contributing to more coherent, coordinated, and evidence-informed food systems transformation across Africa.
Source: Starrfm.com.gh/Joshua Kodjo Mensah
