About the Centre
The Joannah & Brian Lawson Centre for Child Nutrition generates child-centred, collaborative nutrition knowledge designed for real world impact on personal decision making, food environments and human and planetary health
We are a network of researchers and educators affiliated with the Temerty Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto, working toward better lifelong health through reduced child overweight, obesity, malnutrition and chronic disease.
The Challenge
In Canada, more than 30 per cent of children and youth are overweight or obese, while 1.4 million children live in food-insecure households. Globally, an estimated 200 million children suffer from stunting or wasting due to poor nutrition, and hundreds of millions more are food-insecure. The Lawson Centre for Child Nutrition is tackling this epidemic through research, education and policy development on nutrition and health.
Vision
Lifelong health through better child nutrition.
Mission
Support research, education and policy with clear pathways to improve nutrition in children, families and communities in Canada and globally.
Guiding Principles
Knowledge generation at the Lawson Centre for Child Nutrition aims to:
- Connect to an identifiable pathway for practical impact on child nutrition for long term health
- Connect to a need identified by collaborators within the field who will use it
- Have potential for a sustainable, long-term impact
We apply these principles across many spheres of influence, including public policy, social services, influencers and media voices, informed personal choice, health equity, education, global health, health costs, food systems, health across the lifespan, and corporate partners.
Pathways to Impact
We generate child-centred nutrition knowledge with impact by:
- Building capacity
- Changing practice
- Empowering advocacy
Our goal is to sustainably improve child nutrition, for lifelong health and wellbeing.