Building public-private partnerships in food and nutrition: Workshop summary

This is a report from a workshop on communication and collaboration on public health and nutrition between the private sector, academia, government, and civil society. It takes a pragmatic approach to partnering with a focus on action. The report includes models of success and features of successful partnerships. There is a helpful exploration of the paradigms and goals from which each sector operates with a word cloud of associations that each sector commonly uses. Summary Box 2-1 shows the main goals of each sector. 

The report concludes with three potential areas for collaborative action, and highlights four common goals that require public private engagement: 

1. Assessment (for example, pooling data on eating habits and the impact of eating habits on weight and health status)
2. Research (for example, developing a common research agenda aimed at understanding variation in basic caloric requirements) 
3. Marketing (for example, synergising social marketing strategies aimed at improving healthy eating)
4. Vision (for example, working together to develop a vision of what is possible)