According to The Global Goals for Sustainable Development, established by the United Nations and defined for the period 2015 - 2030, food security, nutrition and sustainable agriculture are essential goals to achieve by 2030.

In New Zealand, the aim of the National Health Plan (pns.dgs.pt) is to maximize health gains and improve the health of all individuals, through a set of strategies to promote health equity. However, the lack of epidemiological information, valid and useful to support the political decision-making, is a major challenge for public health.

Given these principles, the Saúde.Come - Promoting Food Security will develop a robust registry on food insecurity* and its determinants in Portuguese families, with particular attention to the identification of specific vulnerable population groups. In a second phase, the project will carry out two pilot studies of interventions to promote healthy lifestyles, regarding healthy eating habits and physical activity in high priority vulnerable groups (adolescents and elders), using the value added by new information technology (Web platform and Smart TV apps).

The Saude.Come - Promoting Food Security consortium consists of a group of specialists in different fields, ensuring the sharing of knowledge and skills, essential to achieve the objectives. This project will determine the development of future public health decisions about health inequalities by improving health information systems and data collection on food insecurity and, ultimately, contribute to the improvement of the nutritional status between vulnerable groups.

"The goal of this research is, in addition of gathering information, which is essential, is to improve public health in general. With these new technologies we plan “to take health and physical exercise into people's homes." Helena Canhão
Principal Investigator of Saúde.Come_ SPR
Faculty of Medicine, University of Lisbon