Food Pharmacy Kick-Off Event in Rotterdam South
We have launched our collaborative Food Pharmacy research project with Erasmus MC and Leiden University with a kick-off event in the Public Food Social Canteen on 24.04.2024. This co-creative evening marks the beginning of one of the first projects in the Netherlands and Europe implementing a food-is-medicine approach, social innovation, and soil-human health connection.
The power of diversity
A unique group of partners and stakeholders joined us to share their inputs and expertise during the event. From local doctors, social workers, soil and plant researchers, dietician researchers, social entrepreneurs, food producers, chefs, founders, and engaged citizens. The participants were the embodiment of the Regenerative Healthcare model coined by the Rodale Institute:
“A system where agriculture and health work together for a prevention-based human and environmental health approach. Rather than relying on toxic chemicals to solve agriculture issues and pharmaceutical interventions to manage lifestyle-related disease, regenerative healthcare aims to prevent disease through an organic, whole food, plant-forward diet that begins on farms that work in harmony with nature.”
We have gathered this amazing crowd (40 people!) to collect their feedback about the Food Pharmacy program, which HarvestCare will facilitate in 2024. Food Pharmacy is a program designed to increase access to healthy foods. It uses financial incentives such as free produce prescriptions and support from health professionals to reduce food insecurity and the prevalence of chronic diseases such as diabetes type 2 among patients with limited financial means.
Food is medicine - so does the healthy soil
Between September and December 2024, we will provide 20 diabetes type 2 patients with weekly seasonal organic boxes sourced directly from local farmers via Rechtstreex. Additionally, patients will receive dietary coaching from dieticians and attend health workshops in the neighborhood.
With our medical research partner Erasmus MC, we will measure how the Food Pharmacy program affects patients’ health outcomes to test the approach's feasibility. Moreover, our program is part of the Soil2Gut research project led by the Leiden University Institute of Environmental Science, where the soil and plant research team is testing how farming practices affect the nutritional value of the produce. Soil microbiome, food microbiome, and nutritional density (vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals) will be tested among several farmers who provide produce to the Food Pharmacy.
Collective wisdom
During the event, we hosted a round table discussion to harness the collective wisdom and tackle some of the most challenging areas of our work, such as long-term financing of Food Pharmacy and creating the program with the target group at heart. Here are five takeaways from the discussions:
👩⚕️ Support must be provided beyond the healthcare system to address the root causes of lifestyle diseases. Housing, financial support, and educational support for kids affect patients’ stress levels and directly impact their health.
💶 Long-term financing of food prescription projects is a real challenge that the national government, local municipalities, and health insurance must solve together.
🔬 The healthcare and farming research pioneers are eager to learn from each other and support the transition to localized food and medicine solutions.
🍽️ “Crop rotation - diet rotation” - we need to support patients and consumers in adapting their diets, as pioneering farmers adapt what they cultivate to enhance soil life.
🎯 We must focus on the 80% we agree on, not on what sets us apart. This focus applies to nutritional, health, and agriculture fields.
The beginning of a long journey
The kick-off event marks the official beginning of our efforts to create a food prescription model in Rotterdam South. We aim to scientifically prove the intervention's outcome and find models to sustain the program beyond the pilot phase. We look forward to continuing to co-create with the community solutions that can be truly transformative.
