Developing and Validating Food-based Dietary Guidelines and a Healthy Eating Index

Among several factors contributing to the occurrence of undernutrition, micronutrient deficiencies, overnutrition, and chronic disease, unhealthy diet is one of the most important factors that need to be addressed to tackle the burden in low- and middle-income countries. To maintain healthy eating in a population, it is crucial to develop and implement country-specific food-based dietary guidelines as well as monitor the adherence of the population with the guidelines. The aim of this study is to generate evidence that will help the development and validation of food-based dietary guidelines and a healthy eating index for Ethiopia. The method to develop Ethiopian food-based dietary guidelines is adapted from the 2015 Dutch food-based dietary guidelines and the Dutch healthy diet index development and validation process, and the 1998 FAO/WHO preparation and use of food-based dietary guidelines. A multidisciplinary technical working will be established to develop FBDGs. The working group will identify key messages for the guidelines that can address priority diet-related public health problems in Ethiopia based on the evidence that will be generated by the PhD student from Wageningen University and Research. The evidence generation will begin by identifying top ten diet-related diseases that lead to high morbidity and mortality in 2016. The nutrition situation (nutritional status, dietary pattern, and nutrient gaps) analysis will be conducted to define the objectives of FBDGs. A systematic review will be conducted by formulating research questions to address the objectives of the FBDGs. The FBDGs will be translated for a specific population subgroup using linear mathematical programming and validated for cultural appropriateness, acceptability, consumer understanding and practicality of the messages. Focus group discussions and key informant interviews will be conducted to validate the FBDGs. The most recent Ethiopian national food consumption survey data collected in