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Abstract Background Despite decades of nutrition advocacy and programming, the nutrition situation in South Asian countries is alarming. We assume that modern training in nutrition at the post graduate level is an important contributor to building the capacity of individuals to think and act effectively when combating undernutrition. In this context, this paper presents a regional situation analysis of master's level academic initiatives in nutrition with a special focus on the type of programme we think is most likely to be helpful in addressing undernutrition at the population level: Public Health Nutrition (PHN). Methods This situational analysis of Masters in nutrition across South Asian countries viz. India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Maldives, Nepal, Bhutan was conducted using an intensive and systematic Internet search. Further, detailed information was extracted from the individual institute websites and library visits. Results Of the131 master's degree programmes we identified one that was in PHN while another 15 had modules in PHN. Most of these universities and institutions were found in India with a few in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. In the rest of the countries, neither nutrition nor PHN emerged as an academic discipline at the master's level. In terms of eligibility Indian and Sri Lankan programmes were most inclusive, with the remaining countries restricting eligibility to those with health qualifications. On modules, no country had any on nutrition policy or on nutrition's interactions with agriculture, social protection, water and sanitation or women's empowerment. Conclusion If a strong focus on public health nutrition is key to reducing undernutrition, then the poor availability of such courses in the region is cause for concern. Nutrition master's courses in general focus too little on the kinds of strategies highlighted in the recent Lancet series on nutrition. Governments seeking to accelerate declines in undernutrition should incentivize the delivery of postgraduate programmes in nutrition and Public Health Nutrition (PHN) that reflect the modern consensus on priority actions. In the absence of PHN type programmes, the competence to scale up nutrition capacity is likely to be impaired and the human potential of millions of infants will continue to be squandered.

The benefits of fruit and vegetables are well established, particularly their role in preventing general micronutrient-deficiencies and chronic diseases. However, global food systems are not delivering diverse and high quality diets: healthy food is unavailable and too expensive for many. Creating food environments that foster consumer access to fruit and vegetables will require coordinated policy action across sectors, mostly outside of the health sector. The aim of this paper is to identify opportunities to strengthen food system policy for nutrition, through an analysis of the policies relevant to the external food environment for fruit and vegetables in India. We conducted interviews based on policy theory with 55 stakeholders from national and state level, from within government, research, private sector and non-government agencies, and from health, agriculture and economic sectors. Specific strategies identified in this study to improve consumers' external food environment for fruit and vegetables in India were: development of strategic Public-Private Partnerships to increase access to diverse expertise across the supply chain; linking health and economic/agricultural policy agendas; and strengthening surveillance of policy impacts on consumer access to fruit and vegetables. We also found that public health actors can play an important role in advocating for 'consumer oriented' fruit and vegetable supply policy. This study demonstrates the usefulness of 'policy learning'-oriented qualitative policy analysis in identifying 'points of entry' for food policy change, and extends understanding of political dynamics in engendering agricultural policy change for nutrition. Improving access to affordable fruit and vegetables is a global priority, and given common global food supply challenges, the findings from this study are also likely to be relevant for other low and middle income countries.