Salt Reduction Initiative of the Pan American Forum for Action on Ncds
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Salt Reduction Initiative of the Pan American Forum for Action on NCDs Report for the 4th Meeting of the SaltSmart Consortium 17-18 September 2015 Jolly Beach, Antigua Table of Contents Key Messages .............................................................................................................................................. 1 I. Background .......................................................................................................................................... 4 II. Welcome ............................................................................................................................................. 5 III. Progress with Regional Targets ...................................................................................................... 6 LATINFOODS data on soups ............................................................................................................................ 6 The George Institute project in Mexico ............................................................................................................. 6 LATINFOODS data for monitoring regional targets ...................................................................................... 6 Mondelez .................................................................................................................................................................. 8 Nestlé ........................................................................................................................................................................ 8 Healthy Caribbean Coalition ................................................................................................................................. 8 Paraguay ................................................................................................................................................................. 10 Suriname ................................................................................................................................................................. 10 Chile ........................................................................................................................................................................ 10 American Heart Association ............................................................................................................................... 10 IV. The Social Marketing Pilots in the Caribbean ............................................................................ 11 University of South Florida, WHO Collaborating Centre on Social Marketing for Social Change ........ 11 Team reports ......................................................................................................................................................... 11 Antigua and Barduda ....................................................................................................................................... 11 St. Vincent and the Grenadines ..................................................................................................................... 12 Barbados ............................................................................................................................................................ 12 Jamaica ............................................................................................................................................................... 13 V. Plenary on Sustaining the Social Marketing Projects .................................................................. 14 Summary of Commitments made to Support the Social Marketing Projects ............................................. 14 VI. Closing Remarks ............................................................................................................................. 15 APPENDIX 1: List of Participants at the 4 th Meeting of the SaltSmart Consortium ................... 17 APPENDIX 2: Meeting Agenda ........................................................................................................... 18 APPENDIX 3: Social Marketing Country Teams ............................................................................. 24 Key Messages Progress was reported for both strategic objectives to which the Consortium has stated commitments: harmonization of targets for reduced salt/sodium content in processed food products (uptake of regional targets) and social marketing. The latter is focusing on the ∗ discretionary use of salt/sodium and involves pilot projects in four Caribbean countries – Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Jamaica, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. In Caribbean and Central and South American countries, discretionary use accounts for substantive amounts of salt/sodium in the diet. It is important for initiatives in these countries to set targets and timelines for processed food reformulations in parallel with strategies to reduce discretionary use. Regional targets – determining baselines for monitoring processed foods Researchers have collected baselines for the salt/sodium content of several processed food products against which progress with the uptake of the regional targets will be monitored: • teams across nine countries in Latin America used food labels and web sites of fast food restaurants to collect data on the salt/sodium declared in a total of 812 processed soups, determining average sodium content per 100g of product and per ready-to-eat portion; • researchers in 10 countries in the LATINFOODS network gathered nutrient label data for over 11,000 products in the 12 food categories to which regional targets apply. PAHO will extend support to Caribbean countries to contribute data for products in the same 12 categories. The label data findings (means and medians of salt/sodium content per food category), compared to both the highest and lowest regional target values per food category, will be published. The next technical advisory group should consider whether label data, as collected above, should become another principle for establishing and/or updating the regional target values for food categories. ∗ Table salt and certain high-sodium prepared foods that are a sub-set of processed and packaged foods subject to discretionary use in cooking and at the table, specific to the national food culture or to a region or sub-population within a country. Even though used in relatively small amounts at any one time, these products can contribute very high levels of salt/sodium to the diet because they are so frequently consumed. Examples are some pickled foods, salted fish, condiments, sauces (soy sauce, fish sauce, tomato sauce, specialty local sauces), marinades, curry pastes , and soup mixes and cubes. Mondelez has a preliminary framework for technology transfer, another strategic objective of the SaltSmart Consortium. Social Marketing – focus on discretionary use The four countries in the Caribbean piloting social marketing projects are supported by PAHO, AHA and the Healthy Caribbean Coalition (HCC), and guided by the University of South Florida (USF) World Health Organization Collaborating Center on Social Marketing for Social Change (WHO CC on Social Marketing).Their target audience for messaging is mothers with young children. Health authorities and civil society organizations are making significant investments in the pilots. Consortium members made a number of commitments to assist and support the initiatives: • The American Heart Association has material already developed that can be modified. It can also put together a webinar and organize a communication strategy for continuing education related to a specific event or observance e.g. Caribbean Wellness Day. • Health Canada has materials for salt/sodium reduction developed thematically (for the home, at the supermarket). For consumer research, it has a 6-point literacy test to guide the preparation of materials. • Consumers International (CI) can assist HCC with a platform to provide consumer information, and can forward information on how CI works with member organizations. The network of Latin American countries active with dietary salt/sodium reduction (Acción Latino-Americana de Sal y Salud (ALASS)) can be extended to assist with disseminating consumer information in the Caribbean. • Communicating along its normal channels, HCC can work to make information available and can facilitate in-country leaders/local teams. It can also approach local teams to work with the food navigators in supermarkets. HCC is willing to approach trade unions to be a new partner in promoting healthy lifestyle and diet. • Nestle has a newsletter that circulates in schools in Jamaica. It can include messages specific to salt and could develop the topic of discretionary use that would reach kids and their parents. It can work with the Jamaica social marketing team and potentially share this information across the region. • September is health month in the Caribbean, with health promotion as the emphasis. PAHO will use this as a platform to address the discretionary use of salt/sodium. 2 • The formation of Caribbean Salt Smart Coalition (CSSC), supported by the Healthy Caribbean Coalition in partnership with PAHO and the USF WHO CC on Social Marketing. 3 I. Background In May 2012, the Pan American Forum for Action on Non-communicable diseases (PAFNCD) recommended the establishment of a multi-sector, multi-stakeholder group to address the overconsumption of dietary salt/sodium in the Region. PAHO responded in August 2012 by