It’s been a week since the conclusion of the 9th Africa Nutrition Conference 2024 at the University of Cape Coast.
Natasha Lelijveld (Senior Nutritionist) and Tanya Khara (Technical Director) from ENN attended to network, to present our work, and to learn from others. We chatted to hundreds of people about Field Exchange, en-net.org, The MAMI Global Network, IFE Core Group, WaSt technical interest group and the Global adolescent nutrition network (GANN).
📝 The conference was characterised by insightful and fascinating presentations from keynote speakers including:
- Professor Anna Lartey's insightful talk on transforming food systems to address nutrition challenges in Africa
- Amos Laar’s presentation on the food environment and its implications for health and disease
- Professor Folake Samuel’s session on African scientists in the diaspora, the shift from brain drain to brain gain and its transformative potential for the continent.
- Dr Victor Awino spoke of the use of stable isotopes in assessing body composition and plant micronutrient content
- Professor Don Bundy spoke about the importance of nutrition beyond the first 1000 days
- IUNS Living Legend award winner Dr Habiba Wassefa emphasising the need for a digital platform/knowledge hub which would link the wide range of entities and stakeholders making up the African nutrition and food security community and enable them to facilitate the networking and exchange needed to drive effective policy change.
We also took the opportunity to share ENN’s work and impact.
- Dr Natasha Lelijveld presented at a lunchtime symposium on the importance of school nutrition, hosted by Prof Robert Akparibo and Barbara Bray from the Research Consortium for School Health and Nutrition. The session was very well attended, and discussed the challenges in sustainably financing quality school meal programs and how they could be extended to secondary schools to benefit older adolescents.
- Tanya Khara hosted a workshop on “Writing for Field Exchange” aimed at encouraging the researchers and practitioners present to become both readers and contributors to Field Exchange. This was complemented by a compelling testimony from Gloria Odei, long term collaborator with ENN, on her experience of writing for the publication and how it had supported her in her career. The session received 30 participants, with plenty of enthusiasm and some great questions. The many copies of Field Exchange taken to the conference also flew off the table quicker than all other materials!
Besides the excellent program, the ENN team were also able to meet many wonderful colleagues from all the over world and hear about how ENN has influenced their work. To finish off Natasha and Tanya’s trip, they also got to sample Ghanaian foods, enjoy fresh coconuts during tea breaks, and visit some of the historic sights in Cape Coast. 😊
