International Symposium: Sustainable food systems – Going beyond food security

7-8 February 2020
Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany

The symposium addresses the challenge of achieving sustainable food systems in a global context from different perspectives. As sustainability in the frame of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)-agenda excludes a monothematic approach, experts from the field of agronomy, agricultural economics, environmental and ecological sciences, nutritional and social sciences as well as health collaborate towards an inter- and transdisciplinary approach. This is not free from controversial debate.

Abstract submission is open until 31 October 2019

Programme

/by

Webinar: The Do’s and Dont’s in monitoring salt iodization and iodine status

Thu, Feb 6, 2020 12:00 PM - 1:30 PM (GMT)

A webinar organized by UNICEF and the Iodine Global Network

Registration: Confirm your attendance by sending an email to Arnold Timmer, atimmer@ign.org, by 3rd February 2020.

The objective of the webinar is to disseminate the new Guidance on the Monitoring of Salt Iodization Programmes and Determination of Population Iodine Status (attached) to programme managers and other national and international stakeholders involved in iodine nutrition and salt iodization programmes.  The webinar is based on the recommendations published by UNICEF in the Guidance on the Monitoring of Salt Iodization Programmes and Determination of Population Iodine Status in 2018.
 
The UNICEF Guidance on the Monitoring of Salt Iodization Programmes and Determination of Population Iodine Status has compiled the lessons learned of decades of programme monitoring. It provides a set of recommendations and adjustments in the way monitoring should take place. The Guidance is intended to complement and update information contained in the WHO Guideline on Fortification of Food-grade Salt with Iodine for the Prevention and Control of Iodine Deficiency Disorders (2014) and the WHO/UNICEF/ICCIDD Guide for Programme Managers on Assessment of Iodine Deficiency Disorders and Monitoring their Elimination (2007).   

Agenda:

  • Background iodine nutrition programmes.
  • Monitoring salt iodization and iodine status.
  • Recommended changes in monitoring programme performance and impact.
  • Questions and answers.

Speakers:

  • Mawuli Sablah (UNICEF HQ, Nutrition Specialist)
  • Jonathan Gorstein (Iodine Global Network, Executive Director)
  • Roland Kupka (UNICEF HQ, Senior Adviser)
  • Arnold Timmer (IGN Senior Adviser and moderator)

Please join the webinar from your computer, tablet or smartphone:
https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/165314661

You can also dial in using your phone:
United States (Toll Free): 1 877 309 2073
United States: +1 (571) 317-3129

Access Code: 165-314-661

New to GoToMeeting? Get the app now and be ready when your first meeting starts:
https://global.gotomeeting.com/install/165314661

/by

IAEA’s Nutritional and Health-Related Environmental Studies Newsletter – Issue 11 (January 2020)

The 11th Nutritional & Health-related Environmental Studies Newsletter features the following articles.

Meeting outcomes

  • 4th Federation of African Nutrition Societies (FANUS) Conference
  • Africa Day for Food and Nutrition Security (ADFNS)
  • General Conference side events
  • Nutrition workshop for SIDS Member States

News 

  • New Technical Cooperation Cycle
  • Application of stable isotopes to understand the effect of environmental enteric dysfunction on protein metabolism and health outcomes

Publications

  • Perspective: Creating the evidence base for nutritional support in childhood cancer in low- and middle-income countries: priorities for body composition research
  • IAEA Support for the Use of Stable Isotope Techniques to Assess Micronutrients

Success stories

  • Toolbox to measure body fatness in children expanded in the European region
  • Not all food proteins are equal: how nuclear techniques help to understand protein quality in low- and middleincome countries
  • Combatting childhood obesity in Jamaica by strengthening nutrition assessment capacity

This edition also features a NAHRES Special article entitled Nutrition and Food Systems at the Climate COP in Madrid by the UNSCN.

You can download you copy here.

Read about our meetings and get inspired by some success stories on IAEA supported projects. A big accomplishment during the last months was the publication of the DBM symposium outputs; check them out. Moreover, don’t miss our news section, where you will find exciting information about the preparation of the new Technical Cooperation (TC) Cycle for 2022-2023. Finally, don’t miss the contribution made by UNSCN on the UN Climate Change Conference held in Madrid, Spain in December 2019.

/by

Policy Seminar – Food Systems Dashboard: How it will work

Monday, 27 January 2020
12:15 pm to 1:45 pm (EST)
IFPRI (Washington, DC)

IFPRI, CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH), Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), and Johns Hopkins University (JHU) are pleased to invite you to the seminar Food Systems Dashboard: How it will work

Our food systems are bankrupting our health systems, accelerating climate change and using natural resources in an unsustainable way.  Most people agree they need to be transformed to change this.  But how?  Food systems are complex and offer many entry points for change.  In addition, the data to describe food systems and their performance is scattered and not interoperable.  In effect we are flying blind in our journey to change food systems for the better.

The Food System Dashboard, developed by GAIN and Johns Hopkins University in collaboration with iTech Mission, University of Michigan, and Euromonitor, responds to this challenge. It brings together extant data from public and private sources to help decision makers diagnose their food systems and identify all their levers of change and the ones that need to be pulled first. Following presentation of the Food Systems Dashboard, commentators will reflect on data and indicators as well as on implications for developing countries.

Speakers

  • Jessica Fanzo, Bloomberg Distinguished Associate Professor of Global Food & Agricultural Policy and Ethics; Director for Johns Hopkins Global Food Ethics and Policy Program, Johns Hopkins University (JHU)
  • Lawrence Haddad, Executive Director, Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN)

Discussants

  • Inge Brouwer, Associate Professor of Food and Nutrition Security, Wageningen University & Research, and A4NH Flagship Leader of Food Systems for Healthier Diets

  • Olivier Ecker, Senior Research Fellow, IFPRI
  • Gina Kennedy, Theme leader, Diet Diversity for Nutrition and Health, Bioversity International

Moderator

  • John McDermott, Director, CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH)

Register here

Live webcast and post-event viewing available here

/by

E-consultation on the V0 draft of the HLPE report “Food security and nutrition: building a global narrative towards 2030”.

During its 45th Plenary Session (October 2018), the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) requested the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE) to produce a brief report titled “Food security and nutrition: building a global narrative towards 2030” that takes stock of HLPE contributions “with a view toward informing future CFS actions on FSN for all in the context of the 2030 Agenda”, with analysis that takes into account the perspective of those most affected by food insecurity and malnutrition. The overall aim of the report is to: “elaborate in a forward-looking perspective a global narrative on FSN, enlightened by previous HLPE publications and considering recent developments in the FSN sector” in order to provide strategic guidance towards the achievement of SDG2 and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The report will be presented at CFS 47th Plenary session in October 2020.

The HLPE is organizing an online consultation to seek inputs, suggestions, and comments on the present preliminary V0 draft. The results of this consultation will be used by the HLPE to further elaborate the report, which will then be submitted to external expert review, before finalization and approval by the HLPE Steering Committee.

For more information, please visit the web page in English, French or Spanish to read the full introduction to the consultation.

/by

Webinar: Cost-effectiveness of anaemia prevention interventions

23 January 2020, from 15:00 to 16:00 CET

Register here

Right in the middle of the UN Decade of Action on Nutrition (2016-2025), and as countries make commitments towards achieving UHC, all policy-makers will be confronted with the same question: which interventions should be included in the national health system?

This requires careful prioritization across all potential health interventions and maximizing health outcomes within the available budget. Countries are encouraged to prioritize health interventions that are both cost-effective and serve the poorest and most vulnerable groups first so that no one is left behind.

Many nutrition interventions, including supplementation in pregnancy and food fortification, are highly cost-effective to prevent disease and mortality.

This webinar is organized by the Accelerated Reduction Effort on Anaemia (AREA) Community of Practice (CoP).

More information available here.

/by

UNSCN Discussion Paper Urban-Rural Linkages for Nutrition

The nutrition challenges facing the world of today are daunting. One out of three people suffers from at least one form of malnutrition, and current trends suggest this may increase in the coming years. Every country in every region in the world is affected. The causes of malnutrition are multisectoral, and so reaching global and national goals requires addressing numerous underlying and structural factors as well as securing the concerted attention of a broad range of actors. 

Although the multisectoral nature of nutrition is well known, how nutrition is affected by linkages across the rural–urban continuum is not. Increased attention to the impact of changes in food systems, urbanization and rural transformation has highlighted the importance of territoriality and urban governance in addressing nutrition. Nutritionists now need to better understand how urban–rural linkages shape the factors that affect nutrition (factors that are often embedded in complex, non-health-related systems) and how these broader policies and programs are designed and governed.

This paper provides, first, an overview of nutrition and the urban–rural context and how, in general terms, this relates to integrated territorial governance and development. The discussion is then situated in the context of the global development agenda, particularly initiatives dealing with nutrition, urban settlements and urban–rural linkages. The paper then explores how the Guiding Principles for Urban–Rural Linkages (URL-GP) and Framework for Action (FfA) developed by UN-Habitat relate to nutrition actions. Recognizing that the links between urban-rural linkages are not direct, but mediated by other systems and factors, and noting that experiences with applying a territorial  approach to nutrition policies and programs are still limited, the paper concludes by outlining initial steps towards promoting more integrated territorial planning for nutrition, while also encouraging further thinking, initiatives and research in this direction.

The paper has been translated in all 6 UN official languages; pre-design language versions will become available in the week of 10-14 February. 

/by

Making urban food environments fit for children

All children have the right to adequate nutrition and good health to reach their full potential within their cities and communities. Urban food environments need to provide children, their families and communities with permanent access to nutritious food that is healthy, affordable and sustainably produced.

Together, EAT and UNICEF are seeking to improve urban food environments for healthy and sustainable diets among children and adolescents, to the benefit of entire communities. The content in this brochure highlights the vital elements of a child rights approach3 to creating healthy food environments that are so important to securing healthy diets for all, now and in the future.

 

/by

Food Systems and Diets Handbook

Published by the Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition, this handbook offers a summary of evidence and concrete policy recommendations for countries to provide healthy diets for all. 

The Handbook is an accumulation of the Global Panel’s policy briefs to date, and aims to provide a body of knowledge on how food systems can influence the production and consumption of safe, affordable and healthy diets. 

Produced as an interactive PDF, the Handbook focuses on providing key facts, policy examples and recommendations to stakeholders working across the food system. The target audience for this tool is government policymakers in low- and middle-income countries, technical experts in government, non-government organisations, civil society and the private sectors, students, and academics.

Access the Handbook here.

/by

Nutrition and Climate Change consultant – FAO

Duty Station: Rome, Italy

Deadline for application: 5 March 2020

Vacancy announcement

/by

Nutrition News Issue 4

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

You can access your copy here.

The fourth issue for 2019 includes:

  • Update on the Mid-term Review of the Nutrition Decade
  • UN Highlights from the SUN Global Gathering
  • Food Systems Updates
  • Urban-Rural Linkages & Nutrition
  • UNN-REACH Facilitator as Knowledge Broker
  • Nutrition at the CFS46
  • Putting the Spotlight on School Feeding
  • Madagascar Mapping Exercise
  • Global Nutrition Report Country Profiles
  • Latest Publications and Nutrition Related Events

 Sign up for UNSCN E-Alerts and E-Newsletters here.

 

Photo Credit: ©FAO Andrew Eseibo

 

/by

The Double Burden of Malnutrition Symposium Proceedings

Symposium proceedings from the recent IAEA-UNICEF-WHO Symposium on the Double Burden of Malnutrition (DBM) have now been published. The symposium took place in Vienna, Austria from December 10-13th and aimed to strengthen understanding of how to tackle the DBM by sharing recent research findings as well as experiences with the implementation of relevant interventions, programmes and policies.

 

 

Particular focus was given to the role of stable isotopes in addressing gaps both in the measurement of malnutrition and in assessing the impact of interventions. The symposium also promoted double-duty actions, new assessment tools, considerations for policies and action plans to support Member States in achieving their defined nutrition commitments within the Nutrition Decade.

You can access all conference materials – including pictures and presentations at the IAEA’s Human Health Campus. This includes poster presentations and media features.

/by