Local Plates, Healthy Futures

Cities shape how and what people eat, which in turn shapes their health outcomes. As urbanisation accelerates, the challenge for cities shifts from how people grow food to ensuring they can access affordable, safe nutritious and healthy diets that are also rooted in local cultures. Across many African cities, households are facing a dual burden: persistent undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies alongside rising overweight levels, obesity, and diet-related non-communicable diseases. Within this sobering reality lies both a great urgency and a valuable opportunity to reimagine and strengthen urban food systems in ways that create healthier diets and more prosperous cities for current and future residents. Local and subnational governments are at the heart of this transformation, playing a decisive role in shaping how food is produced, distributed, sold, and consumed within urban spaces.

This year’s African CITYFOOD Month theme explores the intersection of urban food systems, public health and food culture, highlighting how cities can actively shape healthier food environments for all. Good nutrition underpins health, supporting child growth and strengthening population wellbeing by reducing vulnerability to infectious and non-communicable diseases. From school feeding programmes that establish lifelong healthy eating habits to strengthening fresh food market infrastructure for access to better nutrition, improved food safety, and to support hubs of cultural life, cities play a critical role in influencing everyday choices. Community health workers, teachers, savings groups, informal traders, and local food champions are also key actors for co-designing urban food systems that actively support public health.

The campaign also looks at the link between urban food governance and health, and how coordinated action across health, food, urban planning, and energy can unlock more effective, inclusive interventions. African food cultures are also central to this as everyday practices such as preparing traditional dishes, using indigenous ingredients, and eating foods tied to identity can support healthier diets while celebrating culture. By uplifting African food cultures, investing in market infrastructure, prioritising nutrition in the first 1,000 days of life, amongst other interventions, cities can build food systems that nourish both people and place.