International Knowledge Application Network & Digital Hub in Nutrition

An open-access innovative technology-based knowledge hub to promote multi-stakeholder collaboration globally and better nutrition research, policy, and practice. 

Professor Sumantra Ray, NNEdPro Founding Chair and Executive Director.

The COVID-19 pandemic has clearly illustrated the centrality of food and nutrition to prevent and mitigate the impact global health emergencies. For example, the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the existing food crisis, and affected food production, processing and distribution with consequences ranging from food products shortages, food losses, food inflation to increased food insecurity and subsequent malnutrition. There is also mounting evidence regarding the increased risk of COVID-19 complications and mortality in individuals with overweight/obesity and diabetes, which are closely linked with poor diet and nutritional status. Overall, COVID-19 has shown that preventing and mitigating the impact of future global health emergencies requires timely access to good quality data that enables policymakers and professionals to rapidly identify areas for actions and the effectiveness of context-relevant innovative solutions. Nonetheless, the lack of a global hub for data and evidence in nutrition along with limited systems and professional capacity can delay life-saving actions, which is the problem being addressed by the International Knowledge Application Network & digital hub in Nutrition (iKANN).

By encompassing various aspects of the food system (production, processing, distribution, consumption and waste recovery) and health systems, iKANN aims to engage and benefit multiple stakeholders including researchers, professionals, decision makers from a variety of sectors and service users.  The research registry will enable the rapid assessment of nutrition evidence being produced, which is relevant for researchers and funding agencies. It will promote standardisation and transparency in nutrition research which address the needs of researchers, professionals and the public. The scientific evidence collections are relevant for professionals and decisionmakers, allowing the identification of areas where evidence is robust and can inform policy and practice, as well as for researchers, as it identifies evidence gaps to be addressed. The evidence collections will also translate current scientific evidence to lay-audiences thus facilitating the interaction of the public with evidence being produced. The data portal will the allow assessment and monitoring of relevant indicators of food, nutrition and health, which will facilitate decision making and hypothesis testing. The training addresses needs of all stakeholders as it delivers bespoke guidance to improve nutrition knowledge, capacity and empowerment. These actions are important to address acute and chronic nutrition needs highlighted by the COVID19 pandemic.

Through sharing data, evidence and capacity building resources iKANN is a contribution to the community as it aims to enhance collaborative efforts that support better decision-making by policymakers, researchers and the public. Ultimately, IKANN connects the global community to improve the nutrition capacity of the health workforce and wider community. It is anticipated that this will improve the care provided and inform evidence-based decision making, which will ultimately lead to improvements in nutrition and health outcomes. As an open access platform, iKANN is accessible to all.

IKANN will result in the following public goods:

• Open access to relevant global datasets on nutrition and health, which will allow monitoring and hypothesis testing
• Open access to evidence trackers and dashboards for visualization of current evidence in different areas related to nutrition and health. The COVID-19 and Nutrition, vascular and cardiometabolic editions have already been released. 
• Open access to education, training and practice that guidelines that support evidence-informed decision-making and practice. 
• Open access to notice and discussion board that connects nutrition and health researchers, professionals, and decisionmakers globally. This function also facilitates discussion around the evidence base.

IKANN will offer open access data, evidence and education at a global level, with the aim to support decisionmakers in better understanding nutrition and health local, regional and landscapes and relevant areas for change. By tracking and collating scientific evidence it furthers support selection of potentially effective solutions and discussions around relevant regional adaptations. Beyond providing data and information on relevant actions, IKANN can also create a tangible impact by promoting education and capacity for change among relevant stakeholders. IKANN can impact practices of policymakers, food, health and nutrition professionals and ultimately, the wider population. 

IKANN gained 90 members within the first two months. Currently, iKANN has 123 users from across the globe. Over the next year, through continuous curation of relevant data, evidence and capacity building resources and dissemination across NNEdPro current regional networks, we will be able to expand the number of IKANN users globally. Through several interactions with IKANN global community of users and improvements in the usability of IKANN, by year 2 and 3 we will be able to not only reach a global audience but also to shift current practices to alternatives that are data and evidence informed. 

iKANN initiative is being evaluated against “Investing for Impact: Operating principles”, which include a number of short- and long-term indicators related to knowledge input and uptake, engagement and changes in health outcome measures. The measurement framework (see attachment) will be used to assess the impact and significance of each investment and monitor the progress of each indicator in achieving impact against expectations (aspiration).

Some of the key barriers to the success of our solution involves the high operation costs to develop and maintain IKANN main functions and the need for technical ability to create the data and evidence visualisation and analysis tools. Through the Trinity Challenge, we are hoping refine IKANN current functions and develop new and more challenging ones so IKANN will be seen as a relevant and trusted platform for decision making in the next 3 years. 

Ulster University, University of Parma, Imperial College London,University of Cambridge, Monash University and University of Wollongong. 

British Dietetic Association, British Medical Journal group, Laboratory of the Government Chemist, Society for Nutrition Education/Behaviour, Swiss Re Institute, Education/Research in Medical Nutrition Network, Quadram Institute, Modality Partnership, Lord Rana Foundation Charitable Trust.

In March 2020, the COVID-19 global pandemic prompted the World Health Organization to formally recognise the importance of ‘good nutrition’ to protect the immune system. Given the importance of optimal nutrition at a population level as part of social and economic recovery from COVID-19 and future health emergencies, IKANN provides an opportunity to share data, evidence and learnings that can help to overcome global and regional challenges. Participating in the Trinity Challenge provides a unique funding opportunity but also the chance to connect with like-minded individuals and organisations aiming to harness the power of data, evidence and global collaborations to mitigate the impact of global health emergencies and streamline global recovery. 

We are in the process of contacting these organisations for partnership/collaboration: Our World in Data(https://ourworldindata.org/); Longview Philanthropy (https://www.longview.org/); Gates Foundation (https://www.gatesfoundation.org/); Alfred P Sloan Foundation (https://sloan.org/); Global Priorities Institute, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, SwissNex and other similar charitable, philanthropic or research institute or organisations. 

These organisations focus on global issues/problems, eg. global& public health, disease, food insecurity, and human welfare. They  work closely with researchers in academic institutions, and policy makers in making research and data available and accessible for the public. This aligns with what NNEdPro’s iKANN platform has been set up to function as: an open data sharing repository covering topics such as public health, nutrition, food security and diseases. Some of these foundations or philanthropies are grant making bodies as well and provides funding to support research, education and innovation related to science and other areas and ensuring its wider reach to the society. With some of these organisations we will like to collaborate to contribute towards their evidence research and data collection (mainly acting as a bridge in filling in the gaps) and with others we would request donations/grants/funding support to continue developing and sustaining our iKANN platform and project.