Experts call for cross-sectoral collaboration to tackle disease risks in changing food systems
- From
-
Published on
12.09.22
- Impact Area

The rapid transformation of food systems is creating unintentional infectious disease risks that will need to be addressed through effective coordination between agricultural and public health sectors, a new review study says.
The review, published in Lancet Planetary Health (Sept 2022), explored how intensification of agricultural production and increasing complexity of food supply chains, particularly in low-income and middle-income countries, change the risks and relative burdens of infectious diseases.
The review covered four case studies:
- vector-borne disease in irrigated agriculture;
- zoonotic diseases in livestock value chains;
- food safety; and
- antimicrobial resistance associated with food systems.
For each case study, the authors asked three questions:
- What aspects of food system transition are creating unintentional infectious disease risks?
- What solutions might exist for these problems?
- How would they require better coordination of agricultural and public health policy and practice?
Citation
Waage, J., Grace, D., Fèvre, E.M., McDermott, J., Lines, J., Wieland, B., Naylor, N.R., Hassell, J.M. and Chan, K. 2022. Changing food systems and infectious disease risks in low-income and middle-income countries. Lancet Planetary Health 6(9): e760–e768.
Photo credit: Fruit and vegetables on sale alongside other food items in a local market in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (ILRI/Geraldine Klarenberg)
Related news
-
Transforming Wheat into Opportunity
International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA)16.10.25-
Nutrition, health & food security
Once considered just a simple grain, wheat in Zimbabwe is now part of a broader…
Read more -
-
World Food Day 16 October: A Hungry World Knows No Borders
International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT)16.10.25-
Food security
-
Poverty reduction, livelihoods & jobs
When crops fail, people move not by choice, but by necessity. As families are displaced…
Read more -
-
Gender Gap Fuels Banana Disease Crisis in Nigeria, Women Farmers Hit Hardest
Sehlule Muzata15.10.25-
Nutrition, health & food security
IBADAN, NIGERIA — A devastating virus is crippling banana production in Nigeria, and a new…
Read more -