Last week, Alexandra Rose’s CEO, Corin Bell and Head of Advocacy, Impact and Communications, Amy Deptford, attended an All-Party Parliamentary Group on Dietary Health drop-in event, hosted by the Obesity Health Alliance at Portcullis House.

Amy reflected:

“It was a pleasure to speak with MPs and Peers about the role they can play in making access to fresh fruit & veg a normal part of everyday life for more people. We also had the opportunity to speak with Sharon Hodgson MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health and Prevention, and share insights from our work.”

Speaking with MPs and peers, Corin and Amy highlighted a number of major challenges that need to be addressed to effectively tackle the rise of food related health conditions, such as obesity, heart disease and type 2 diabetes:

• For many people living on low incomes, eating healthy and nutritious food is not a matter of knowledge or motivation; it is a financial impossibility
• Rising food prices and increasing household food insecurity mean that many households are having to cut back on buying fruit & veg
• Government action must go beyond restricting unhealthy food and focus on improving access to affordable healthy options
• Our work delivering Rose Voucher programmes shows that practical, scalable solutions already exist to help people access fruit & veg in their communities

We are grateful to the Obesity Health Alliance for convening such an important event.