6 March 2019
Bergen, Norway

This meeting is a follow up of the 1st meeting (5 July 2018) and the 2nd meeting (18 October 2018) where inputs were collected in order to develop a Mission Statement, a Concept Document, and an Action Plan.

This meeting will look at the elements of food security (access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food, meeting dietary needs and food preferences) and:

  • Discuss/exchange challenges, available resources/ science and knowledge gaps
  •  Exchange/ elaborate on possible actions and SMART-commitments
  • Identify relationships between actions/ SMART-commitment's and the CFS recommendations and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)
  • Discuss ways to network towards common goals, including identifying measurable actions A "Gaining and sharing document" is prepared to facilitate the discussions.

More information available on the Global Action Network webpage

Sign up to the meeting by sending an email to: foodfromtheocean@nfd.dep.no 

Kindly register no later than 1st of March 2019.

Invitation 3rd meeting Global Action Network

 

 

 

In an effort to present nutrition related news at the global and country level, UNSCN and the UNN Secretariats are teaming up to produce the first comprehensive overview of recent developments supported and/or coordinated by the UN system.

The first issue for 2019 edition includes:

  • Optimizing human health and environmental sustainability
  • Increasing commitments to the Nutrition Decade
  • Outcomes of the International Symposium on Understanding the Double Burden of Malnutrition for Effective Interventions
  • Reinforcing the collective mindset for nutrition in Liberia
  • Burkina Faso's Common Nutrition Narrative emblematic of new climate for increased harmonization of UN support
  • Prime Minister of the Comoros endorses the decision to map nutrition stakeholders and actions following a study visit with Chad
  • Obituary - In memory of Dr. Elisabet Helsing

PUBLICATIONS and a CALENDAR OF NUTRITION RELATED EVENTS

You can access you copy here. Photo credits @WFP Liberia/John Monibah

February 27 - March 1, 2019 University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart (Germany) The 4th Congress Hidden Hunger is a continuation of the successful, international event series "Congress Hidden Hunger" which started in 2013 in Stuttgart, Germany. As in case of the previous congresses in this series, the 4th Congress Hidden Hunger taking place in 2019 will bring together members of different disciplines: nutritionists, agricultural scientists, economists and sociologists. The Congress will encourage the dialogue between scientists, policy-makers and representatives of non-governmental organizations and the private sector. It will review the available evidence on the double burden problem, present new research findings on underlying causes and consequences, feature innovative strategies to deal with the problem and discuss the roles and responsibilities of governments, development organizations, civil society and the private sector in combating the double burden of malnutrition. Registration & Abstract submission Deadline for submission of an "Abstract with Scholarship": 16 November 2018 Deadline for submission of an "Abstract without Scholarship": 23 November 2018 Website

20 February
WFP HQ, Rome (Italy)

At the event we will discuss the key findings of the 2018 Global Nutrition Report, highlighting the many connections across the Sustainable Development Goals for nutrition. The session will be an engaging occasion for sharing insights and commitments regarding nutrition action at all levels.

Please bring with you a smartphone, tablet or laptop to participate in this interactive event.

Speakers include:

  • Senior Representative of the Government of Kenya, SUN Member.
  • Jessica Fanzo, PhD, Bloomberg Distinguished Associate Professor at Johns Hopkins University
  • Anna Lartey, Director, Nutrition, FAO
  • Lauren Landis, Director, Nutrition, WFP
  • Margarita Astralaga, Director of the Environment, Climate, Gender and Social Inclusion Division, IFAD

Register for this event.

The Global Panel’s strength is in its foundation – as an independent group of influential experts with a commitment to tackling global challenges in food and nutrition security. Due to the wealth of knowledge and experience of its members, it is able to provide strategic thinking and deep analysis on a variety of emerging issues and present that information through both policy briefs and foresight reports. These evidence-based reports provide the necessary interlinkages when addressing issues of urbanization, consumer behaviour, food environments, food safety, climate change and more.

GLOPAN pledges their support to the UN Decade of Action on Nutrition. Their reports act as a contribution to the Nutrition Decade because they provide substantive modelling and trend analysis to help policymakers better understand trends in agriculture and diets and to estimate costs/benefits of new agriculture and food policies. The Global Panel also convenes a High Level Stakeholder Group to ensure the success of the ongoing Foresight 2.0 project by drawing on the strategic and practical advice of the Group members and their influence in policy environments.

Furthermore, they will continue to bring together policymakers from different sectors in the food systems, as well as deliver evidence and tools to encourage and support governments in low- and middle-income countries as they design and implement food and nutrition policies. These efforts will be done in collaboration with international and regional partners.

For further information, we welcome you to read the full commitment here.

14 February 2019
12:15 pm to 1:45 pm (EST)
IFPRI  | 1201 Eye St. NW  | 12th Floor
Washington, D.C. 20005

The InterAcademy Partnership (IAP), a global network of science academies, recently brought together regional networks of science academies from four continents—Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe. This project aimed to spark a new global commitment to research the opportunities and challenges facing food and nutrition security and agriculture today.

This seminar will provide details on the scope and priorities of the IAP project, the regional perspectives of participants, and a global synthesis. During the discussion, participants will explore mutual interests in increasing the sciences’ contribution to informed policy development, innovation, and practice.

 

Register here

More info available here

12-13 February 2019
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

With an estimated 600 million cases of foodborne illnesses annually, unsafe food is a threat to human health and economies globally. Foodborne diseases in low- and middle-income countries costs at least US$100 billion a year, with this cost exceeding US$500 million for 28 countries, according to a recent World Bank study. Ongoing changes in climate, global food production and supply systems affect consumers, industry and the planet itself: food safety systems need to keep pace with these changes. The burden of unsafe food disproportionally affects vulnerable and marginalized people and poses sustainability and development challenges. Despite the growing recognition of the fundamental role food safety plays in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the main objectives of the UN Decade of Action on Nutrition, efforts to strengthen food safety systems remain fragmented and the gains, particularly in many developing countries, have been well below expectations.

In this pivotal moment, this conference, co-organised by FAO, WHO, WTO and AU, will bring together Ministers and representatives of national governments, senior policy makers as well as representatives of non-state actor groups from all regions of the world to engage in an urgent reflection on food safety challenges to:

  • Identify key actions and strategies to address current and future challenges to food safety globally.
  • Strengthen commitment at the highest political level to scale up food safety in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

At the Addis Ababa Conference, priorities will be discussed so that food safety strategies and approaches can be aligned across sectors and borders, reinforcing efforts to reach the SDGs and supporting the UN Decade of Action on Nutrition. Strategic actions will be defined through Ministerial panels involving health, trade and agriculture officials and experts thematic sessions covering the topics of:

  • the burden of foodborne diseases and the benefits of investing in safe food;
  • safe and sustainable food systems in an era of accelerated climate change;
  • science, innovation and digital transformation at the service of food safety;
  • empowering consumers to make healthy choices and support sustainable food systems.

The conference will result in a high-level political statement advocating for increased and better coordinated collaboration and support to improve food safety globally.

More info available here

12-13 February 2019
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

With an estimated 600 million cases of foodborne illnesses annually, unsafe food is a threat to human health and economies globally. Foodborne diseases in low- and middle-income countries costs at least US$100 billion a year, with this cost exceeding US$500 million for 28 countries, according to a recent World Bank study. Ongoing changes in climate, global food production and supply systems affect consumers, industry and the planet itself: food safety systems need to keep pace with these changes. The burden of unsafe food disproportionally affects vulnerable and marginalized people and poses sustainability and development challenges. Despite the growing recognition of the fundamental role food safety plays in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the main objectives of the UN Decade of Action on Nutrition, efforts to strengthen food safety systems remain fragmented and the gains, particularly in many developing countries, have been well below expectations.

In this pivotal moment, this conference, co-organised by FAO, WHO, WTO and AU, will bring together Ministers and representatives of national governments, senior policy makers as well as representatives of non-state actor groups from all regions of the world to engage in an urgent reflection on food safety challenges to:

  • Identify key actions and strategies to address current and future challenges to food safety globally.
  • Strengthen commitment at the highest political level to scale up food safety in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

At the Addis Ababa Conference, priorities will be discussed so that food safety strategies and approaches can be aligned across sectors and borders, reinforcing efforts to reach the SDGs and supporting the UN Decade of Action on Nutrition. Strategic actions will be defined through Ministerial panels involving health, trade and agriculture officials and experts thematic sessions covering the topics of:

  • the burden of foodborne diseases and the benefits of investing in safe food;
  • safe and sustainable food systems in an era of accelerated climate change;
  • science, innovation and digital transformation at the service of food safety;
  • empowering consumers to make healthy choices and support sustainable food systems.

The conference will result in a high-level political statement advocating for increased and better coordinated collaboration and support to improve food safety globally.

More info available here

Elisabet Helsing, born in Oslo in 1940 started out as a school teacher. While nursing her two children she developed a strong interest and engagement in protecting, promoting and supporting breastfeeding. Backed by a young medical officer in the Norwegian National Directorate of Health, Gro Harlem Brundtland - later Norway’s Prime Minister and Director-General of WHO - she developed official pamphlets with practical advice to mothers on how to succeed in breastfeeding. In 1968, she initiated the mother-to-mother support group “Ammehjelpen” which spread rapidly throughout the country and was credited for the dramatic rise in breastfeeding in Norway from 1970 onwards. In 1969, Elisabet took up nutrition studies at the University of Oslo to strengthen her scientific credentials to further campaign for breastfeeding. Her interests widened to nutrition policy more broadly, also reflected in her doctorate at the University of Athens in 1989.

Her international career started in Norway from 1973 through the FAO-led Freedom from Hunger Campaign, organizing international conferences and awareness-raising on international nutrition issues.  At the 1974 World Food Conference she amazingly got the Norwegian Minister of Agriculture to propose breastmilk as acommodityto be accounted for in national food balance sheets highlighting its economic value. While this may have been too radical for the world, Norway has since 1993 estimated the annual production of human milk. Later, in Niger, she worked on nutrition emergency relief with the International League of Red Cross Societies and the Ministry of Health. In Bangladesh with the World Food Programme she supervised the implementation of a feeding programme for over half a million women and children, while at the same time she initiated (on a voluntary basis) a self-help project for women (Nijera Kori-“we do it ourselves”)which developed into a well-known, still existing national activist NGO.

Between 1978-81 she coordinated a Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) project investigating the potential use of fish protein concentrate in emergency relief worldwide (and concluded in the negative). In 1980-81 she also coordinated an international multi-centre study on breastfeeding among working mothers in Brazil, Sri Lanka and Tanzania, hosted by the Institute for Nutrition Research at the University of Oslo.

From 1981 to 1984, Elisabet worked as a Senior Executive Officer in the Norwegian National Directorate of Health on international nutrition-related questions, infant feeding and WHO, including implementation of the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes - typically against strong industry interests. 

In 1984, Elisabet became the first regional adviser for nutrition at WHO’s Regional Office for Europe in Copenhagen. During twelve years in this function, she raised the profile of nutrition policy development and implementation; extra demands being set to her creativity with the opening of the Soviet states in 1990. She spearheaded the work to roll-out the Baby-friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) – reaching to the Barents Region,  strengthened nutrition surveillance and dietary surveys, and early spoke up about issues that would not be raised if WHO did not do it, such as the rise in obesity. Elisabet was in this period among the initiators of the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) established in 1991 and served in several functions in its leadership. She also in WHO found her husband Graham Dukes – a medico-legal expert on side-effects of drugs with whom she shared the rest of her life and numerous common interests.

Back in Norway in 1996 she continued her engagement in infant nutrition related matters and provided advice to Norwegian government agencies as a senior executive officer at the Section for International Affairs and Public Health of the Norwegian Board of Health. She lectured and supervised students at the University of Oslo and took up an interest in breastfeeding as a human right of the mother/child dyad.  From 1999 to 2003, Elisabet served as president of the Federation of European Nutrition Societies (FENS).

Elisabet’s contributions to public health nutrition, and breastfeeding in particular, are numerous and have left strong footprints. In 2003 she was awarded the Norwegian King's Medal of Merit in Gold for extraordinary services to the people through her work to promote breastfeeding. Her work is all the more impressive as it evolved in the shadow of “Mr. P” as she called the early entry in her life of Parkinson’s disease; however, she never let it restrict her professional life.

Elisabet Helsing has authored a number of books, chapters and scientific papers, training materials for health workers, as well as practical guides for mothers. She always willingly shared of her profound knowledge, experience and enthusiasm to the benefit of many colleagues, nutrition students and friends who have been inspired and moved by her. She will be truly missed by many in the international nutrition community.

Authors: Kaia Engesveen, Wenche Barth Eide, Anne Bærug, Siri Damman, Isatou Jallow, Arne Oshaug, Liv Elin Torheim

6 – 7 February 2019
Ministry of Health, 14 Avenue de Duquesne, 75007, Paris (France)

France and Australia with the support of the Nutrition Decade Secretariat will convene countries to the inaugural meeting of the Global Action Network on Nutrition Labeling with the aim to engaging countries into accelerating efforts around nutrition labelling, strengthening collaboration among countries, foster policy dialogue and facilitate and enhance local and global actions. The network intends to expand to a growing number of countries. By implementing nutrition labelling, it will strengthen national nutrition policies and help reduce the incidence of malnutrition worldwide.

Concept note

Agenda