Securing health through food systems: an initiative of the nutrition consortium of the National Health Research Institutes in Taiwan and Asia Pacific regional partners as a network.

There are growing concerns about the health impacts of climate change with ecosystem degradation and global warming, finite reserves of non-renewable energy, water shortages in food-producing regions, limits to contemporary agriculture with its dependence on exhaustible petrochemical nitrogen and rock phosphate fertilizers, and failure of the global financial system. To date, health security has meant attention to safe environments especially water, sanitation and waste disposal; and access to health care and its affordability. Its dependency on food security (safety, sufficiency, sustainability, and satisfaction which requires diversity and quality) has been under-estimated because the current and imminent risks have increased and extended to more populations, because these may be less tractable and because the nature, extent and dynamics of nutritionally-related health are better appreciated. As a step towards more collaborative food and health systems, the National Health Research Institutes in Taiwan has created an interdisciplinary Nutrition Consortium (NC) with research and policy agendas. The NC held a food in Health Security (FIHS) in the Asia Pacific region roundtable in conjunction with the World Vegetable Center based in Tainan, supported by the National Science Council and Academia Sinica in Taiwan and the Australian Academies of Science and of Science Technology and Engineering, August 2-5th 2009 in Taiwan. A FIHS Network is being established to further the initiative. It should form part of the broader Human Security agenda.