Healthy public policy to support healthy and equitable eating: The HE² project

Key messages

• Typically, the lower people’s socio-economic status, the more likely they are to eat a poor diet and be at greater risk of chronic disease
• We studied how inequities in societal factors influence healthy eating – both within the food system (for example, price, availability of food, the quality of the food supply) and outside the food system (for example, transport, housing and the built environment, and employment)
• We used a systems approach, bringing together Australian academics, policy makers, and practitioners working in the field of public health and public health nutrition to identify the social determinants of inequities in healthy eating
• Based on our findings, we developed a systems-based framework to show the interconnections between different policy areas, and tested the framework using Australian federal and state government policies
• Our framework provides governments with plausible intersectoral policy actions that have potential to advance public health nutrition equitably
• Action is needed across a range of policy areas (including health, housing, education, social and urban planning) to address inequities in healthy eating. Currently, there is little government attention outside of the health sector.