issue of march 2014

AFRICANNUTRITIONMATTERS

VOLUME 2 N°1 MARCH 2014

AFRICAN NUTRITION SOCIETYT H E N E W S L E T T E R

3African Nutrition Matters March 2014

New Year Wishes from the African Nutrition Society

Dr. Francis Bruno Zotor President of the African Nutrition Society

On behalf of the African Nutrition Society (ANS), allow me to extend my heartfelt wishes to the entire nutrition com-munity for the very new and peaceful beginning of 2014.In 2013, the IUNS conference brought world-wide atten-tion to Africa and ANS when Professor Anna Lartey, a for-mer ANS trustee became the first ever African to lead IUNS whilst simultaneously heading the FAO Nutrition Division.The inauguration of our first newsletter was also something to savour in Granada at the ICN 2013. Indeed to all who were at the conference and had the opportunity to skim through our newsletter, they couldn’t hide their admiration for Africa coming of age and certainly poised to drive the nutrition agenda and continue to work synergistically to-wards finding solutions to their nutritional challenges.Through our newsletter, it is our hope the coverage of news items, topical issues and other issues of relevance to the African terrain would attract a wide readership. A challenge still remains though and this relates to our publication re-cord in peer reviewed journals of repute and international standing. It may be argued by some that articles from the South (developing countries) most often find their destina-tion into waste paper baskets in the North (western coun-tries). The question though is: why are we able to study, work and excel in western institutions and yet when we are back on the African continent, our research outputs doesn’t seem to measure up? Whilst not burying my head in the sand in pretense, I admit we do need to build capacity in generating research outputs that can match good quality publications elsewhere outside of Africa.At ANS, we believe in the power of capacity building to accelerate progress in nutrition. Therefore, the appropri-ate thing we need to do is to continue building capacity of young nutritionists to conduct research and dissemi-nate findings into the public domain. As the President of the leading continental movement and professional body in nutrition, I would like to reaffirm ANS commitment to advancing nutrition agenda in the continent. I am grateful to the ANS Board of Trustees, the ANS Council, ANM edi-torial team and all those working with enthusiasm and on voluntary basis on various ANS projects.The leadership of the African Nutrition Society is very much working in sync with the editorial team of the Afri-can Nutrition Matters to ensure this newsletter has indeed come to stay.

Because we believe that ANS can be only useful if its mem-bers find it relevant, we would therefore welcome and value your feedback.

The ANS leadership wishes you well!!!

in this month’s issue

Editorial 4

D. Sanou & N. MatheFrench column 5Dans ce numéroD. SanouThematic article 7Necessary themes and perspectives to enhance the impact of African Nutrition ResearchersZ. Mchiza & M. RalaralaAfrican Nutrition Leadership Programme 9J. Badham

Programme de Leadership African en Nutrition 10H. Labraimi

Empowered to Innovate 11AWARD Builds Women Scientists’ Research, Leadership SkillsK. HomerGlobal Allaiance for Improved Nutrition 12Elevating Nutrition on to a higher pedestal in NigeriaL. UmunnaThe Nutrition Situation in West Africa 13F. Samuel & H.M. Avedzi

Nutrition training in Southern Africa 14N. Mathe & C. Mahachi

Highlights from the 20th International Congress of Nutrition 15R. Fungo & N. Mathe

Spotlight 17Young and emerging African nutrition research-ersObituary 19Professor Isaac O. Akinyele

Events 20Calendar of upcoming nutrition events


EDITORIALDear Reader,

We are delighted to be able to present the second issue of African Nutrition Matters (ANM), the African Nutrition Society’s quarterly Newsletter. As this is the first issue of the year 2014, we would like to start by offering our best wishes to all our readers, on behalf of the editorial team.

2013 was a very rich year for the interna-tional nutrition community with advances in global nutrition initiatives including the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) move-ment and development of e-platforms for nutrition education. Particularly relevant to African nutritionists was the inaugura-tion as President of the IUNS for Profes-sor Anna Lartey who becomes the first African to hold this position while simul-taneously heading the Nutrition Division of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). We hope that this position will lead to a united voice and synchronized actions from the leading nutrition bodies.

As we enter the final years for achieving the targets of the Millennium Develop-ment Goals (MDGs) with an unfinished 2015-MDG nutrition agenda, it is timely for African nutrition stakeholders to look back with sober reflection at what has been achieved to date. Overall, in the last decade, there has been a positive wind of change for nutrition on the international development agenda and the emergence of several new initiatives. Many African countries have made good progress, but sadly most will still not reach their nutri-

tion targets. At various fora, it is pleasing to see many policy actors, including ANS members, committed to keeping the mo-mentum for moving forward the nutrition agenda on the continent with passion and enthusiasm, and challenging global play-ers to translate their pledges into concrete measurable actions. The number of nutri-tion professionals in Africa has increased tremendously and nutritionists have better access to resources thanks to new technol-ogy including e-resources and new me-dia. Despite this progress and especially the training of young nutrition graduates, we recognize that more still needs to be done to strengthen capacity for the nutri-tion and health workforce, including in research. The transition to the post-2015 MDG era offers a perfect opportunity es-pecially for African researchers to ques-tion the outcomes of their efforts and ask themselves “Are we really making an im-pact on the people most in need?

In this current issue of ANM, we are in-troducing the debate on “Enhancing the impact of African nutrition researchers”. The feature article of the Newsletter by Drs Mchiza and Ralarala highlights some of the numerous factors that hinder the ef-forts of African nutrition researchers and thereby reduce the impact on the interna-tional scene. Authors also discuss strate-gies that can help mitigate these challeng-es and thereby enhance the impact of our nutrition scientists.

Dr Mathe and Mr Fungo take us back to the 20th International Union of Nutri-

tional Sciences (IUNS) conference in Granada, Spain in September 2013 by re-porting on selected key events of interest to Africa. This Second Edition also gives opportunities to young and emerging Af-rican nutrition researchers who attended the IUNS congress to provide their per-spectives on major challenges they are currently facing as well as how nutrition researcher impact can be enhanced. The Regional News Section is dedicated to West and East Africa regions, where the nutrition situations and key challenges facing nutrition efforts are depicted. Our Partners Sectionfeatures the African Nu-trition Leadership Programme (ANLP) and its francophone sister “Programme de Leadership Africain en Nutrition” (PLAN), which have been building trans-formational leadership capabilities of nu-trition professionals. Additional invited articles include one from the African Women in Agricultural Research and De-velopment program (AWARD), an article from ANS President and a contribution from the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) on advancing the nutri-tion agenda in Nigeria.

We would like to thank everyone who has contributed or supported this edition and we look forward to continuing this challenging task of producing the ANM. We know that our success will depend on your support, comments, contributions and ideas! Therefore, we invite readers to send us their comments and suggestions.

Happy reading!

AFRICAN NUTRITION MATTERST H E N E W S L E T T E R

VOLUME 2 N°1 MARCH 2014

Published the 23 March 2014

This issue is available online:www.answeb.org

Follow us on: Twitter: @ANMattersFacebook: fb.com/ANMatters

Cover photo credit: Kate Holt

Editors-in-Chief Dia Sanou (Burkina Faso), Nonsikelelo Mathe (Zimbabwe) Editorial Board Mawuli H. Avedzi (Ghana), Robert Fungo (Uganda), Ali Jafri (Morocco), Hanane Labraimi (Morocco), Muniirah Mbabazi (Uganda), Folake Samuel (Nigeria) Technical Advisory Board Paul Amuna (Ghana), Francis Zotor (Ghana), Habiba Hassan Wassef (Egypt) Layout Ali Jafri

African Nutrition Matters is published by the African Nutrition SocietyP. O. Box K18, Korle Bu, Accra, Ghana.Phone: +233-244186867; +233-244872410Fax: +233-2151394

All correspondence should be addressed to the editors by email: [email protected]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dfataustralianaid/10665380363/


Dans ce numéroLe deuxième numéro d’African Nutrition Matters (ANM), le bulletin trimestriel de la Société Africaine de Nutrition (ANS) est là. En tant que premier numéro de l’année 2014, il donne l’occasion d’offrir les meilleurs vœux de l’équipe éditoriale à tous les membres de l’ANS et à nos lecteurs. A quelques mois de la date bu-toire fixée pour les OMDs, l’Afrique est loin d’atteindre ses objectifs relatifs à la nutrition, malgré des progrès notables. La transition vers les objectifs de dével-oppement post-OMD 2015 offre une op-portunité unique aux chercheurs et scien-tifiques dans le domaine de la nutrition en Afrique de réfléchir sur l’efficacité et l’impact social de leurs efforts et de se poser la question: avons-nous réellement de l’impact sur les personnes les plus en besoin ?. C’est cette réflexion qui a mo-tivé le thème du présent numéro d’ANM «Renforcer l’impact des chercheurs afric-ains en nutrition».

Drs Sanou & Mathe, coéditeurs en chef d’ANM, se réjouissent du bilan de l’année 2013 qui a été particulièrement marquante pour la communauté de nutritionnistes af-ricains. En effet, l’année écoulée a connu la création de ce bulletin et la tenue du 20ème congrès de l’IUNS (ICN2013). Ce congrès a été marqué par le début du man-dat de la première personnalité africaine à la tête de l’IUNS; Professeur Anna Lartey du Ghana. Prof. Lartey ajoutera ce poste à un autre non moins prestigieux qu’est celui de Chef de la Division Nutrition de la FAO. Elle honore ainsi toute l’Afrique, et au nom de l’ANS nous lui souhaitons plein succès dans ses nouvelles fonc-tions, en espérant qu’elle continuera à appuyer le développement de la nutrition en Afrique tout en servant de guide et de modèle pour les jeunes générations de nu-tritionnistes.

S’inspirant du thème du présent nu-méro, les éditeurs invitent les lecteurs et les acteurs de la nutrition à réfléchir sur des stratégies qui pourraient permettre d’améliorer notre approche de la recher-

che en nutrition et d’en renforcer la portée pratique et les retombées sur les popula-tions qui en ont le plus besoin.

A la suite des éditorialistes, c’est au tour du Président de la Société Africaine de Nutrition, Dr Zotor, d’offrir ses vœux de paix pour la nouvelle année 2014 qui se trouve être très chargée pour son organ-isation avec l’organisation de la 6ème Conférence africaine d’épidémiologie nu-tritionnelle (ANEC VI) au Ghana en juil-let 2014. Tout en réaffirmant la volonté de l’ANS de faire du renforcement des ca-pacités des jeunes nutritionnistes son fer de lance, son Président a émis le souhait de voir l’Afrique se doter d’une revue scientifique en nutrition dont le facteur d’impact pourra rapidement grimpée pour tenir la place qui revient à la recherche en nutrition sur le continent.

L’article thématique du numéro est présenté par Drs Mchiza et Ralarala (Af-rique du Sud) et s’intitule «Perspectives et thèmes nécessaires pour renforcer l’impact des chercheurs africains en nu-trition». Observant que la recherche et les chercheurs en nutrition ne sont pas bien reconnus et valorisés malgré l’importance des problèmes nutritionnels sur le conti-nent et la prédominance de la littérature internationale sur la malnutrition en Af-rique. Entre autres raisons les auteurs évoquent : i) capacité insuffisante en recherche; ii) manque d’agressivité des experts disponibles, iii) dissémination et/ou vulgarisation insuffisante ou inappro-priée des résultats de recherche. Citant Brown et al. qui estiment que l’Afrique de l’Ouest seul a besoin de former annu-ellement 120 licenciés, 140 titulaires de masters (MSc) et 14-21 doctoral (PhD), les auteurs affirment qu’aucun pays afric-ain n’a les capacités minimales pour faire face aux besoins de mise en œuvre des programmes de nutrition. Pour les auteurs, les chercheurs en nu-trition pour renforcer l’impact de leurs travaux, doivent i) publier dans chez des éditeurs locaux qui ont de l’impact; ii)

poster leur découverte dans les institu-tions ou bibliothèques; iii) être agressive dans la présentation de leurs travaux a des rencontres et conférences nationales et in-ternationales; iv) former des consortiums ou des réseaux solides dans lesquels ils distribueront leurs découvertes sur le con-tinent; v) publier les thèses ou disserta-tions dans les librairies électroniques pour en améliorer l’accessibilité; et finalement vi) partager leurs résultats pertinents avec les medias et produits des résumés de politiques qui influenceront les poli-tiques africaines. Tout cela passe d’abord par l’amélioration de la compétence des chercheurs non seulement en recherche, mais également en vulgarisation et en plaidoyer. Dans le domaine du renforcement des ca-pacités justement, le Programme Africain de Leadership en Nutrition (ANLP) tra-vaille depuis plus de 12 ans à former des jeunes professionnels de la nutrition sur le leadership transformationnel dans le but de créer un réseau d’acteurs du change-ment qui contribueront à l’éradication de la malnutrition. De nos jours, ce pro-gramme qui se déroule tous les deux ans en Afrique du Sud a formé plus de 270 cadres qui servent aujourd’hui à divers niveaux de responsabilités et dans dif-férentes institutions et organismes. Afin d’ouvrir les bénéfices d’une telle initia-tive aux non-anglophones, une version Francophone appelée PLAN a vu le jour au Maroc en 2007. La 5eme édition est prévue pour juin 2014.

Madame Homer, qui part de l’exemple de Dr. Olutayo Modupeopla Adedokun, une charge de cours a la Faculté d’Agriculture de l’Université Port Harcourt’s, décrit le programme AWARD (African Women in Agricultural Research and Development) qui œuvre dans le développement de car-rière des femmes qui excellent dans la re-cherche agricole. A nos jours, plus de 325 récipiendaires dont 51 en alimentation et/ou nutrition sur plus de 3,000 postulants provenant de 11 pays ont pu obtenir une bourse AWARD. Cette organisation qui

Dia Sanou Co-éditeur en chef

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croit fermement que des avancées signifi-catives et des innovations en recherche agricoles n’auront lieu que si des femmes compétentes et d’influence s’y inve-stiront.

Un autre effort d’organisation interna-tionale soutenant la nutrition en Afrique est celui de GAIN (Alliance Globale pour l’Amélioration de la Nutrition) au Nigeria. GAIN qui a joint les autres partenaires de la nutrition au Nigeria en 2011, est particulièrement implique dans les activités programmatiques relatives à l’enrichissement des aliments. Il joue également un rôle important dans la mo-bilisation du secteur prive autour de la plateforme national SUN. Selon Mme Umunna, son organisation reste est déter-minée à assister techniquement le pays et à soutenir tous les acteurs dans le combat contre la malnutrition au Nigeria.

Les nouvelles régionales rapportées dans le présent numéro concernent l’Afrique de l’Ouest et l’Afrique de l’Est. Après une présentation de la région Ouest Africaine de l’Afrique qui comprend les 15 pays de la CEDEAO, plus la Mauritanie, les col-lègues Samuel et Avedzi, présentent la situation nutritionnelle peu réjouissante dans cette région du monde qui a fait peu de progrès en matière de lutte contre la malnutrition et l’insécurité alimentaire. Les prévalences de retard de croissance, de sous nutrition et d’émaciation sont re-spectivement de 35%, 28% et 10% alors que les carences en micronutriments y sé-vissent de façon endémique. Avec encore plus 36 millions de personnes dénutris, et la situation au Sahel est particulièrement inquiétante avec des famines et des cri-ses alimentaires à répétition. Malgré div-

ers efforts consentis, aucun pays n’est en bonne voie pour attendre les objectifs du millénaire lies à la nutrition, a l’exception du Ghana et de la Guinée Bissau. La sec-tion sur la région sud-africaine se concen-tre sur la formation en nutrition. Après une présentation brève des initiatives an-térieures en nutrition de cette région qui compte 15 pays, Dr Mathe and Mrs Ma-hachi évoque la nécessité de bien former des étudiants aux cycles supérieurs uni-versitaires pour espérer renforcer l’impact des chercheurs sur la société. Les auteurs présentent la situation de l’enseignement de la nutrition et font ressortir que quatre pays n’ont aucun programme formel, et la plupart des formations existantes sont de niveau premier cycle et seuls trois pays concentrent les efforts de recherche dans la région.

Dr Mathe et Mr. Fungo nous font vivre en différé le 20ème Congrès international de nutrition ICN2013, tenu du 15 au 20 septembre a Granada, Espagne. Cette conférence a été particulièrement mar-quante pour l’équipe d’ANM en ce sens que c’est là que notre revue a été offici-ellement lancée, et la coéditrice en chef a eu l’occasion d’être à la une du journal du Congres. Comme d’habitude, les or-ganisations corporatives y étaient présen-tes pour non seulement promouvoir leurs produits, mais également pour démon-trer comment en tant que secteur privé, elles peuvent contribuer à la recherche de solutions aux problèmes de malnutri-tion. Plusieurs nutritionnistes africains y étaient présents, et les alumni de ANLP se sont réunis en diner comme en marge de chaque grande rencontre internatio-nale ayant un intérêt pour l’Afrique. L’évènement phare a bien sûr été le dis-

cours d’intronisation de Professeur Anna Lartey à la tête de l’IUNS. Cette conférence a aussi donné l’occasion à l’ANM d’aller à la rencontre de jeunes espoirs de la nutrition en Afrique. La pa-role leur est donne dans l’article « Spot-light: Young and emerging African nutri-tion researchers », article dans lequel de doctorants parlent de leur recherche, de leurs perspectives sur les défis auxquels les jeunes chercheurs africains dans le domaine de la nutrition font face et de ce qu’il faut pour améliorer l’impact des chercheurs. Les étudiants-cherch-eurs a l’honneur sont Johanita Kruger, Sud-Africaine doctorante a l’Université de d’Afrique de Pretoria, Martin N. Mwangi, Kenyanne etudiant au doctor-at à l’Université de Wageningen, Pays Bas, Tamègnon Victorien Dougnon de l’Université of Abomey-Calavi, Benin et Aaron Christian Kobina, doctorant à l’Université du Ghana, Lagon et de Lifot-er Kenneth Navti, doctorant Camerounais a l’Université inscrit à l’Université Lud-wig-Maximilians de Munich, Allemagne.

Après quelques annonces sur les évène-ments majeurs à venir, le journal se ter-mine par la triste nouvelle de la doulou-reuse disparition du Professeur Isaac Akinyele, un des pionniers de la nutrition sur le continent. Au nom de l’ensemble des membres d’ANS et de la communauté de nutrition du continent, le comité édito-rial d’ANM se joint au comité exécutif de ANS pour exprimer sa profonde sympa-thie à la famille éplorée.

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AFRICAN NUTRITION MATTERST H E N E W S L E T T E R

VOLUME 2 N°1 MARS 2014

Numéro publié le 23 Mars 2014

Ce numéro est disponible en ligne:www.answeb.org

Suivez-nous sur : Twitter: @ANMattersFacebook: fb.com/ANMatters

Photo de couverture : Kate Holt

Editeurs en chef Dia Sanou (Burkina Faso), Nonsikelelo Mathe (Zimbabwe) Comité Editorial Mawuli H. Avedzi (Ghana), Robert Fungo (Ouganda), Ali Jafri (Maroc), Hanane Labraimi (Maroc), Muniirah Mbabazi (Ouganda), Folake Samuel (Nigeria) Consultants Techniques Paul Amuna (Ghana), Francis Zotor (Ghana), Habiba Hassan Wassef (Egypte) Mise en page Ali Jafri

African Nutrition Matters est publiée par la Société Africaine de NutritionP. O. Box K18, Korle Bu, Accra, Ghana.Phone: +233-244186867; +233-244872410Fax: +233-2151394

Toute correspondance devrait être communiquée aux éditeurs via e-mail : [email protected]

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Nutrition is vital, not only in the growth and development of humans and animals but also in the prevention and treatment of diseases. The World Health Organization also highlights nutrition as being funda-mental to the maintenance of good health and functionality (1). As we are at the be-ginning of the 2nd decade of the new mil-lennium, the paradigm shift from the pro-longed “food insecurity” to the unfolding “nutrition transition” in Africa seems to dominate the global public health agenda (2). This paradigm shift accompanies the demographic and epidemiologic shifts towards nutrition-related chronic non communicable diseases and recently the “double burden of malnutrition” that exist with “hidden hunger” (3). Despite the im-portance of the field of nutrition research in understanding and halting the conse-quences of this paradigm shift on the Af-rican continent, this field and its research-ers are not fully recognized. The three possible explanations being the: i) lack of nutrition research capacity; ii) lack of in-sistence of the available nutrition experts to advocate nutrition; and iii) shortcom-ings in nutrition research dissemination. In terms of nutrition capacity develop-ment and advocacy for nutrition, Africa is by no means up-to-date in terms of its nutrition related data, let alone ground-breaking nutrition data. None of the Af-rican countries are even on track in terms of their nutrition research capacity devel-opment (4). Brown et al. (4) have since highlighted that in the Western African countries alone, more than 120 nutrition bachelors’ degree holders, 140 masters (MSc) and 14-21 doctoral (PhD) holders are still needed to strengthen these coun-tries’ nutrition capacity. In this regard, they emphasized the urgent need to: i) in-crease the output of public health nutrition training programs at all levels, includ-ing undergraduate education, pre-service and in-service professional training, and higher education in public health nutrition and related research skills; ii) enhance the applied research capacity, so as to provide

the evidence base necessary for nutrition programme planning and evaluation; and iii) increase advocacy for nutrition and stewardship for nutrition-related activi-ties; with the concerted support coming from the African governments. In agreement to that, Van Royen et al. (5) highlighted that the African nutri-tion researchers who participated in their research study argued that research pri-orities need to be identified by African stakeholders themselves, to enable them to create a problem-driven national nutri-tion research agenda. In the same study it was considered necessary to promote interactions among nutrition researchers and between researchers and policymak-ers to build recognition and capacity in sub-Saharan nutrition research. Building capacity entails the improve-ment of the availability and visibility of strong nutrition experts, who will in turn be advocates of nutrition. Nutrition ad-vocacy in an essence drives the nutrition profession recognition through nutrition experts themselves taking charge in the: i) promotion and influencing nutrition re-lated policies; ii) generation, collation and dissemination of the nutrition informa-tion; iii) monitoring the kind of informa-tion that is distributed by print, television and social media; iv) standardization of the terminology used in nutrition inter-ventions; v) generation of targeted meth-ods and procedures to be used in nutrition research; vi) development and application of appropriate technologies for nutrition; vii) capacity development and training of other competent nutrition professionals, viii) participation on collaborative nutri-tion research development; ix) monitor-ing and evaluating nutrition research, and promoting the application of nutrition results/findings; and finally x) coordina-tion of the activities carried out by several institutions on nutrition. It is somewhat encouraging to know that there is a least a handful of strong nutri-

tion experts that are by-products of the Af-rican continent. However, there are strong concerns that even the minute number of experts that manage to graduate in Afri-can countries that are active in nutrition professional capacity development, South Africa in particular, resort to seek ‘green-er pastures’ in developed countries like Britain and Canada after graduation (6). This is in response to the lack of profes-sional recognition in their own countries (7). It is therefore, important that these experts promote the agenda of the nutri-tion research wherever they are, making sure that their groundbreaking research findings and health solutions reach their target audiences, Africans in particular, at all time. Optimizing coverage and access of the nutrition research findings is the surest way to enhance its visibility and impact (8). For instance, apart from publishing in international impact journal and book publishers, nutrition researchers need to i) publish in the local significant journal/book publishers; ii) post their findings on African institutional or subject reposito-ries; iii) be aggressive in presenting their work at both national and international scientific meetings or conferences; iv) form strong African nutrition consortiums and distribute copies of their findings to colleagues in these consortiums right around the African continent; v) publish their theses or dissertations in libraries electronically and through reliable pub-lishing bodies; and finally vi) volunteer sharing their ground breaking findings with media and communicate it via pol-icy briefs that will influence the African countries’ policies.

Conclusion:Recognizing that nutrition affects virtu-ally every public health problem, nutri-tion research experts need to be aggres-sive in terms of developing agendas that put nutrition at the forefront of the health priorities, especially in Africa. On the Af-rican continent keeping up-to-date with

Necessary themes and perspectives to enhance the impact of African Nutrition Researchers

Zandile J-R. Mchiza South African Medical Research Council, South AfricaMonwabisi K. Ralarala Cape Peninsula University of Technology, South Africa

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relevant research is challenging due to lack of capacity. To those in the nutrition profession keeping up with the nutrition research is an important but a time-con-suming job. Working days are filled with a plethora of other tasks, all of which are fighting for priority. Even when time and resources allow, it can be difficult to partake necessary activities such as pro-ducing policy briefs, nutrition education, instrument development, and monitoring what is circulated in all forms of media.With the strong focus being directed on appreciating our nutrition research ex-perts and putting capacity development at the fore-front, African nutrition challeng-es can be eradicated and the impact of nu-trition research experts will be enhanced. After all, there is no one that can make nutrition the priority other than a driven nutrition research expert.

References1. Report of a Joint WHO/FAO Expert Consultation. Diet, nutrition and the prevention of chronic diseases. WHO

Technical Report Series 916 Geneva 2003 [http://whqlibdoc.who.int/trs/who_trs_916.pdf]

2. Amuna P, Zotor FB. Epidemiologi-cal and nutrition transition in develop-ing countries: impact on human health and development. Proc Nutr Soc. 2008; 67(1):82-90.

3. Abrahams Z, Mchiza ZJ, Steyn NP. Diet and mortality rates in Sub-Saharan Africa: Stages in the nutrition transition. BMC Public Health 2011; 11:801 open access.

4. Brown KH, McLachlan M, Cardosa P, Tchibindat F, Baker SK. Strengthening public health nutrition research and train-ing capacities in West Africa: Report of a planning workshop convened in Dakar, Senegal, 26-28 March 2010. Global Pub-lic Health, 5: 6, S1 — S19.

5. Van Royen K, Lachat C, Holdsworth M, Smit K, Kinabo J, Roberfroid D,

Nago E, Garimoi Orach C, Kolsteren P. How Can the Operating Environment for Nutrition Research Be Improved in Sub-Saharan Africa? The Views of African Researchers. PLOS One 8 (6). 1-9 Open access. SouthAfrica.Info.

6. Parker W, Steyn NP, Mchiza ZJ, Wen-tzel-Viljoen E, Danhauser A, Mbhenyane X, Moeng L. Dietitians in South Africa require more competencies in the public health nutrition and management to ad-dress the nutritional needs of South Af-ricans. Ethnicity & Disease, 2013 (23): 87-94.

7. Nursing Time.net. Disseminating nu-trition research findings to health profes-sionals. [http://www.nursingtimes.net/disseminating-nutrition-research-find-ings-to-health-professionals/199844.ar-ticle] accessed on 28th November 2013.

8. MDLinx: 5 minutes to stay current. Top read articles for 2013. Pediatrics News.

thematic article

Next issue’s thematic

“Global movements to advance health and development through improved nutrition”

For your contributions, send us an email at [email protected]


The African Nutrition Leadership Programme (ANLP) was started in 2002 to empower early and mid-career nutrition pro-fessions by developing their transformational leadership ca-pabilities. The program also facilitates the formation of a pan-African network of leaders who will become influential change agents and contribute significantly to the alleviation of malnutri-tion on the continent. Since its inception the program runs an an-nual 10 day leadership development program and to date, in its 12th year, it boasts of more than 270 alumni in the network from 32 African countries. As a guiding principle, ANLP recognises the importance of a multidisciplinary approach in addressing nu-trition issues and therefore encourages applicants from a wide range of disciplines and backgrounds to enroll onto the program. Recruiting only 30 participants each year it is therefore highly competitive.

Contrary to common thinking (leaders are born), ANLP believes leadership capabilities can be developed and therefore, through a rigorous 10- day training program participants are facilitated and implored to continue practicing learned skills in: self-aware-ness; ability to balance conflicting demands through experience; become aware of their leadership values and strengthen their resolve to implement them in their working environment; abil-ity to build and maintain relationships; ability to build effective work groups; improve communication skills; become aware of the importance to develop others and have an improved ability to do so; improve management skills (time management, del-egation of tasks, goal orientation, prioritization and organizing events); enhance ability to think and act strategically; develop their ability to think creatively and experience situations where they initiate and implement change.

The leadership program recruits African professionals that have achieved higher level training with a passion for improving nu-trition on the continent.Africa’s future depends on many things, however, the final analysis shows that, ‘we can only be success-ful when we take responsibility for our own problems and the solutions to overcome them’. Doctoral training is only a starting point in a career as a nutrition researcher. Such training imparts and develops competence in much sought after skills like higher order cognitive ability to formulate creative solutions to prob-lems and serves as an excellent basis from which to serve as a scientific leader. However the ability to transform plans into effective actions, sets transformational leaders apart from those who have not been able to go beyond the rhetoric ‘Knowledge is no longer power’, implementation is.

At the end of the training participants are also reminded that as

leaders they should be driven by a vision of the future; energise and empower their team members;continually grow and develop themselves and their team members. worth noting is that leaders not only create a motivating climate for their team members but they also are part of the team and enjoy their work. Basically re emphasising the common constructs of leadership, and that fact that trustworthiness and high degree of integrity come with the responsibility of leadership. A common misconception about leadership is also demystified, one does not need a senior posi-tion with authority to be a leader. Leaders are found at all levels of the scientific environment. At the ANLP, we firmly believe that leaders should lead from where they stand – regardless of their position in an organisation. Having recognised the need to develop competences in lead-ing change in multisectoral settings, the ANLP now also carries out specialised transformational leadership training programmes for targeted groups and organisations. The aim is to continue to empower individuals and groups across Africa to lead the change that is urgently needed. By developing the transfor-mational leadership capabilities of individuals and institutions, we therefore contribute to enhancing the impact our alumni are making in nutrition, but also provide them tools to enhance the impact of the work their colleagues and partners are having as nutrition researchers or programme implementers. ANLP and its sponsors are committed to developing a new generation of transformational nutrition leaders in Africa and we look forward to continue living that commitment cognizant that actions speak louder than words.

African Nutrition Leadership Programme

Enhancing transformational leadership capabilities of nutrition professionals

Johann Jerling, Jane Badham African Nutrition Leadership Programme, South Africa.

Websitewww.africanutritionleadership.org

Upcoming editionMarch 2014

Usual deadline for submissionsEarly October


Le Programme de Leadership Africain en Nutrition (PLAN) est une formation continue pour les futurs leaders dans le do-maine de la Nutrition en Afrique. Il est organisé dans le cadre du Programme de l’Alimentation et Nutrition pour l’Europe et l’Afrique de l’Université des Nations Unies (UNU) et en parte-nariat avec le Programme Africain de Leadership en Nutrition (ANLP, version anglaise) et l’Union Internationale des Sciences de la Nutrition (IUNS). Après la première édition tenue en 2007, cet atelier de formation de 8 jours est organisé une année sur deux au Maroc. La 5ème édition se tiendra du 14 au 21 juin 2014 à Rabat, Maroc.

Kasbah des Oudaias, Rabat. Ben Javelina. CC-BY-SA

Le but premier du PLAN rejoint celui de l’ANLP : développer et renforcer les capacités de leadership transformationnel des jeunes africains dans le domaine de la Nutrition. Les participants sont généralement des doctorants en dernière année de thèse, des post-doctorants et autres candidats ayant une expérience avérée dans le domaine de la nutrition.Le programme est destiné à de jeunes africains ayant une expérience dans le domaine de la Nu-trition et qui ont un potentiel énorme pour devenir leader et qui désirent se perfectionner par la formation et/ou la pratique. L’atelier est francophone et permet ainsi d’ouvrir cette formation à l’ensemble des pays francophones africains.

A l’issu de leur formation les PLANistes s’engagent à :- Contribuer à l’amélioration de la nutrition sur le continent af-ricain et à encourager et soutenir la formation des leaders Afric-ains dans le domaine de la Nutrition;

- Encourager les recherches et publications des jeunes nutrition-nistes Africains pour encourager l’esprit de recherche et la cul-ture de publication scientifique;- Renforcer la collaboration entre les intervenants en Nutrition et participer activement à la création et aux activités des Sociétés Nationales de Nutrition.

L’avenir de notre continent dépend des potentialités humaines, hors un potentiel sans leadership ne peut se développer cor-rectement et surtout ne pourra pas s’épanouir à son maximum. Apprendre à devenir leader, c’est apprendre à manifester sa ca-pacité à fédérer et à mobiliser les énergies autour d’une action collective pour le bien de la Nutrition sur notre continent.

D’après le psychologue américain contemporain Robert Stern-berg, le leadership et la créativité sont intimement liés : le lead-ership est une gestion créative de situations et de personnes. Un leader est définit par sa capacité à mener ou conduire d’autres individus ou organisations dans le but d’atteindre certains ob-jectifs. On dira alors qu’un leader est quelqu’un qui est capable de guider, d’influencer et d’inspirer. Le but du PLAN est juste-ment de développer cette gestion créative afin de mener à bien des projets de la nutrition et de promouvoir la recherche dans ce domaine en Afrique et de contribuer ainsi au développement de l’Afrique.

Programme de Leadership Africain en Nutrition

Renforcer les capacités des nutritionnistes africains

Hanane Labraimi Programme de Leadership Africain en Nutrition, Morocco.

Summary

The PLAN (Programme of African Leadership in Nutri-tion) is a nutrition leadership programme for African francophone nutritionnists. It is held once every two years in Rabat, Morocco.

The programme is organized in partnership with the IUNS and the ANLP in South Africa.

Websitewww.plan-francophone.com

Upcoming editionJune 2014

http://www.flickr.com/people/30892432%40N00


Olutayo Modupeopla Adedokun, a Lec-turer at the University of Port Harcourt’s Faculty of Agriculture, is a female top Ni-gerian expert on mushroom production. This innovative plant scientist is charac-terizing indigenous Nigerian mushrooms using molecular tools and evaluating their medicinal, nutritional and nutraceutical properties. Her vision is to see women across Nigeria cultivating these high-pro-tein fungi for improved food and nutrition security along with income generation. As a woman, Adedokun is a rare breed leader in Africa’s agricultural research. A majority of women in Africa are involved in production, processing, and marketing food items. However, only one in four African agricultural researchers is female and only 14 percent hold leadership posi-tions in agricultural research institutions.

There are a number of contributing factors especially the high dropout rate of female students from science classes at second-ary education level. To many female stu-dents, science subjects are perceived to be difficult and therefore a domain for men.Societal expectations that dictate African women remain at home makes traveling abroad for further scientific studies chal-lenging. Further more, most government decision-making positions are occupied by men and therefore women miss out on key opportunities, including training and participation in prioritizing institutional and national development issues.

Adedokun knows that change is pos-sible—women scientists can secure posi-

tions of influence, even in the tradition-ally male-dominated research world. She credits the African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD) fellowship she won in 2011 for strength-ening her science and leadership skills, as well as equipping her to advance in her career. ”As an AWARD fellow, I was sup-ported to attend the International Society for Mushroom Science conference in Bei-jing, China, and I am currently being sup-ported at Biosciences eastern and central Africa (BecA) in Nairobi, Kenya, where I am studying the molecular character-ization of indigenous Nigerian mush-rooms—a superfood,” says Adedokun. AWARD is a career-development program that equips top women agricultural scien-tists across sub-Saharan Africa to accel-erate agricultural gains by strengthening their research and leadership skills.Award receives financial supported from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the United States Agency for International Develop-ment, the Alliance for a Green Revolu-tion in Africa, and Agropolis Fondation. AWARD fellows receive a two-year fel-lowship focused on nurturing mentoring partnerships, building science skills, and developing leadership capacity. Fellow-ship applicants should fit the following criteria; be African women working in agricultural research for development and should be holders of a bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degree in selected disciplines residing or working in Ethio-pia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mo-zambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania,

Uganda, and Zambia. Applicants too are required to show some of the following traits; intellectual merit, leadership capac-ity, and potential of their scientific work to improve the daily lives of smallholder farmers, especially women. Almost 3,000 women scientists from 450 institutions across Africa have applied for one of the 325 AWARD fellowships of-fered to date. AWARD laureates include 51 African women scientists in food and nutrition. Their skills are urgently needed to realise Global Harvest Initiative’s goal Africa’s capacity to feed 2 billion people by 2050—almost twice her current popu-lation. Based on present trends, Sub Sa-haran Africa’s food production system will only be able to meet 13 percent of the continent’s needs by then if the status quo remain as is now. “Clearly, the best minds in agricultural research—both men and women—are needed to meet this challenge,” says Dr. Josephine Songa, AWARD Science Co-ordinator. “We believe that advances and innovation in agricultural research will happen when led and enriched by skilled, influential African women. That’s why AWARD directly invests in African wom-en scientists, empowering them to help close the gender gaps across the agricul-tural value chain.” she adds.

For more information about AWARD, visit: http://www.awardfellowships.org/

Empowered to InnovateAWARD Builds Women Scientists’ Research, Leadership Skills

Karen Homer African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD)

AWARD Fellows are bringing agricultural research to those who need it most: smallholder farmers.

Photo credit: AWARD fellowship


The picture of malnutrition in Africa’s most populous country is a dismal one! Two out of five children in the oil-rich na-tion of Nigeria are stunted, contributing negatively to Africa’s nutrition creden-tials and limiting her social and economic potential. The Global Alliance for Improved Nutri-tion (GAIN) has joined nutrition stake-holders in Nigeria to tackle the scourge of malnutrition. In 2011, we opened our Abuja office to work with various stake-holders including governments, civil soci-ety and the private sector, to build collab-orative partnerships focused on nutrition. GAIN has reinvigorated the Food Fortifi-cation program in Nigeria. The first com-prehensive study to ascertain the level of compliance with fortification standards was conducted recently by Bells Univer-sity of Technology. Based on results, the National Agency for Food, Drug, Admin-istration and Control (NAFDAC) has de-veloped an extensive monitoring tool to regularly monitor retail samples. Action has also been taken to increase capacity of Food inspectors and Port inspectors. GAIN has donated i-Check field testing kits to NAFDAC to assist the agency to measure and monitor levels of micronutri-ents in foods.We are providing technical assistance to the Standards Organization of Nigeria in their review of fortification standards and to align them with WHO Guidelines. GAIN is also working with partners to launch a Social Marketing Campaign to increase consumer aware-ness of the benefits of fortified food.

Home Fortification is a strategy to reduce micronutrient deficiencies through use of Micronutrient Powders (MNPs) espe-cially by the hard-to-reach segments of the population. It was first introduced to Nigerian nutrition stakeholders in June 2012 at a meeting hosted by the Federal Government, supported by GAIN. Guide-lines for the control of micronutrient de-ficiencies were revised to allow for use of MNPs and approved by the National

Council on Health in August 2013. This policy development has resulted in new MNP programs and has encouraged local production of MNPs in Nigeria. Benue State recently procured 10 million sachets of MNPs from a local manufacturer for distribution to children between 6 and 59 months during Maternal Newborn and Child Health week in November 2013. GAIN is supporting the State to conduct a comprehensive behavior change cam-paign and impact assessment study.

Efforts by GAIN Nigeria to raise the profile of nutrition issues have not been limited to programmatic activities. GAIN has also facilitated a meeting with private

sector executives to explain the Scaling Up Nutrition process and seek their com-mitments to scaling up nutrition in Nige-ria. Commitments to date include the use of brands to communicate nutrition mes-sages and ensure that nutrition outcomes are part of their business plans. GAIN re-cently hosted a workshop in partnership with Unilever to discuss recent develop-ments in nutrition and implications on Ni-gerian consumers. Nutrition professionals had the opportunity to discuss the recent Lancet series and Nutrition for Growth initiatives. GAIN remains committed to providing expertise, guidance and support to all nutrition stakeholders in the fight against malnutrition in Nigeria.

GAIN: Elevating Nutrition on to a higher pedestal in NigeriaLarry Umunna Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), Nigeria


West Africa consists of the area in Africa that is bordered to both the south and the west by the Atlantic Ocean and to the north by the Sa-hara Desert. There are sixteen countries that make up the area that is considered to be West Africa. All of them except for Mauritania are members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The countries that make up the ECOWAS include: Benin, Burki-na Faso, Cape Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.The West African/ECOWAS sub region is endowed with rich biodiversity arising from a variety of natural vegetation belts, agricul-tural produce and traditional food systems. Agriculture is the main livelihood domain; hence its sustainability is fundamental to food and nutrition security in the sub-region. Malnutrition remains a major problem in West Africa, and its determinants range from agri-cultural to ecological, sociocultural, economic and political and thus defies a one-size-fits-all approach.The region has experienced very little progress in reducing food insecurity and child malnutrition in the past two decades. Ac-cording to national surveys from the region, approximately 35% of children under five years of age are stunted, 28% are underweight and about 10% of children are wasted. Mi-cronutrient deficiencies especially vitamin A, iron, iodine and zinc are also of public health significance in the region. Poverty, hikes in food prices and climate changes are the ma-jor problems in the agriculture-malnutrition nexus, with poverty resulting into insufficient access to enough nutritious food along with difficulties to access natural resources, e.g. land and water, to produce food. Similarly high food prices lead to a reduction in house-hold spending on health and education among the poor; further undermining good nutrition. In addition, climate change aggravates food insecurity and malnutrition by making natural disasters more frequent, intense and reducing food production.

Other factors that contribute significantly to the situation include suboptimal infant and young child feeding practices and maternal undernutrition. Urbanization, globalization and the resulting nutrition transition are also driving the problems of overweight and obe-sity which give rise to the double burden of communicable and chronic non-communica-ble diseases.

All the member countries of ECOWAS are

either not on track or not making enough progress towards the Millenium Development Goals when it comes to hunger and malnutri-tion, except for Ghana and Guinea Bissau. It has been estimated that about 36 million peo-ple are still undernourished in the ECOWAS region. The nutrition situation in the Sahel of West Africa is of great concern in particular, as there is currently a food and nutrition crisis across Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Northern Nigeria and Senegal. The is-sues involved include food shortages, volatile and high food prices, irregular/late rains, pres-ence of swarms of migrant locusts as well as population displacements due to insecurity. The dire consequences of this Sahelian crisis is food insecurity for more than 11 million persons with a continuing high prevalence of acute malnutrition reported to exceed the criti-cal level of 10% (certain regions of Burkina Faso and Mali) and emergency level of 15% (certain regions of Chad, Mauritania, Niger and Senegal). This has resulted in an increase in admissions to nutrition rehabilitation cen-ters in many of these countries. It has been estimated that over 1.4 million children are at risk of severe acute malnutrition in 2013.

Efforts to ameliorate this crisis are ongoing in the regions – for instance, Food and Agri-culture Organisation (FAO) is assisting more than 1.6 million beneficiaries with support to food and livestock production, domestic animal protection and related technical assis-tance. In Mali, emergency response/support of UNICEF and partners includes capacity build-ing of health workers on Community Based Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM) and Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF), admission of 175,000 children with severe acute malnutrition into therapeutic feeding programmes and the implementation of child health days to distribute vitamin A supple-ments and deworming tablets to improve nu-tritional status of children under the age of five years.

Beyond addressing the localised crisis of the Sahel, there have also been several other high level regional initiatives and actions to ad-dress malnutrition in the ECOWAS region. For instance the ECOWAS Nutrition Forum has been meeting since 1995, bringing to-gether nutrition stakeholders from all member states of ECOWAS, as well as stakeholders from the UN system, international organiza-tions and an increasing number of NGOs, the Civil Society and local associations. In addi-tion, efforts have been made to integrate nutri-

tion in national agricultural and food security investment plans and development agendas of ECOWAS member states. Such efforts include, but not limited to, the West Africa Regional Nutrition Programme Development Workshop held November 9-12, 2011 in Da-kar, Senegal. The workshop was hosted by the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) in collaboration with ECOWAS and West Africa Health Organization (WAHO) and attended by 180 representatives of government Ministries of Health, Agriculture, Finance and Economic Planning, and Civil Society from all West African countries. Recommenda-tions emanating from the workshop included strengthening capacities of institutional struc-tures dealing with agriculture issues, promot-ing advocacy activities to decision makers to ensure better visibility of nutritional aspects in projects and programmes under implementa-tion, and ensuring adequate financial resources for food and nutrition activities. Also, it was recommended that nutrition issues should be considered in a cross-sectoral manner, which makes use of all opportunities and potentials in the nutrition development agenda. In line with cross-sectoral approach to nutrition, Eu-ropean Union and UNICEF with governments and many other global development partners have developed the Africa’s Nutrition Security Partnership (ANSP) programme to strengthen development and implementation of multisec-toral policies and programmes aimed at reduc-ing maternal and child nutrition in Mali and Burkina Faso. With all these efforts, it is puzzling that mal-nutrition remains a burden in the ECOWAS sub-region. While there is the need to intensify regional initiatives that can address cross cut-ting issues in the different member countries, one clear path to follow is a genuine audit of current activities to evaluate their process and outcome impacts, as well as the challenges and lessons learned. Such information needs to be compiled, documented and disseminated in order to meaningfully move forward the nutri-tion agenda of the ECOWAS sub-region.

Further reading

The African Union and the United Nation Children’s Fund (2009) A snapshot of the Nutrition situation in Africa RPCA (2012) Food security and nutrition in the Sahel and West Afri-ca: Main Recommendations of the 28th RPCA Annual Meeting Oua-gadougou, Burkina Faso, 4-6 December 2012. www.food-security.net FAO (2013) Situation update:The Sahel crisis. United Nations System Standing Committee on Nutrition (2010) Food and Nutrition Security in West-Africa: Opportunities and Chal-lenges Supplement on the 11th Annual ECOWAS Nutrition Forum.

SCN NEWS No 38.

The Nutrition Situation in West AfricaFolake Samuel University of Ibadan, NigeriaHayford Mawuli Avedzi University of Alberta, Canada

regional news


According to the Health Professionals Council of South Africa, A nutritionist is regarded as “a person responsible for the pro-motion of nutritional health and well-being and prevention of nutrition related disorders of groups, communities or popula-tions via sustainable and equitable improvements in the food and nutrition system...”

This definition developed in response to a much needed updating of the roles of nutrition professionals (including dieticians) and a desire to align training of these professionals with the needs of society in which they serve (1). The burden of lifestyle diseas-es including overweight, obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases is increasing in many developing countries including those in Southern Africa. Previously the fight had been to re-duce undernutrition such a Protein Energy Malnutrition, Vitamin A deficiency, Anaemia, iodine deficiency, malnutrition related to infectious disease such as diarrhoea, malaria, tropical sprue, HIV and AIDS. There was always a great focus on under 5 year olds through the Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI). These diseases continue to dominate the public health agenda in most Southern African countries, although, there is a growing recognition of the impact of lifestyle related non-com-municable diseases. Thus, the role of health professionals such as nutritionists and dieticians who have training in addressing lifestyle diseases is vital in the fight against this double burden of disease. Nutritionists and Dieticians translate nutrition science into practical preventative and curative solutions for individuals, communities and countries. Moreover, nutrition research from African countries is critical as it allows informed action towards what works best on the continent (2). Nutritionists and dieticians trained in research are essential to fighting diseases and develop-ing local strategies for prevention and cure.

In Southern African countries including, Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Madagascar, Ma-lawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe nutrition training is provided mostly in higher education institutions (mainly universities and post-secondary colleges). Nutritionists and dieticians are trained at undergraduate and post-graduate level for work in academia, government, industry (private sector) and in non-governmental organisations.In line with our current theme, enhancing our im-pact as nutritionist researchers, we sought to identify the avail-ability of nutrition training in Southern African countries. Most importantly, we wanted to identify where post-graduate training was available, in an attempt to highlight research training. We undertook a web-based search for nutrition and dietetics training programs (both undergraduate and post graduate) in Southern Africa countries;searching mainly on the websites of universi-ties in Southern Africa. Where information was not available

online, we used personal contacts to get information on nutrition training in the different countries.

figure 1

Figure 1 shows information on the nutrition and dietetics cours-es, and some in combination with food sciences at institutions in Southern Africa. The information presented here is that which is readily available online from university websites. South Af-rica provides the most opportunities for nutrition training at both undergraduate and post-graduate levels. Not all countries have stand alone nutrition training programs, for example in Bo-tswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Madagascar the nutrition training is provided for as part a another program that has modules in nutrition. Most nutrition training is at the undergraduate level with not many opportunities for postgraduate training except in South Africa, Tanzania and Malawi where MSc programs are available.

It appears that most nutrition research in southern African is un-dertaken in three countries. It is known that many nutritionists undertake post-graduate training in other countries globally.

1. Steyn NP, Mbhenyane XG. Workforce development in South Africa with a focus on public health nutrition. Public health nutrition. 2008;11(8):792-800. Epub 2008/03/19.

2. Van Royen K, Lachat C, Holdsworth M, Smit K, Kinabo J, Roberfroid D, et al. How can the operating environment for nutrition research be improved in sub-Saharan Africa? The views of African researchers. PloS one. 2013;8(6):e66355. Epub 2013/06/19.

Nutrition training in Southern Africa

Nonsikelelo Mathe University of Alberta, CanadaCarol Mahachi University of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe

regional news


The 20th ICN conference held in Granada Spain, from 15th -20th September 2013, attracted a total of 4,251 delegates from 120 countries. There were 700 Speakers that presented and ex-hibited their work. A significant number of African delegates working in Africa and the diaspora attended and made either oral and poster presentations, on a number of topical issues affect-ing Africa. African delegates and Agencies including the African Nutrition Society successful exhibited their works. At this event the ANM inaugural issue was launched. The next IUNS confer-ence, the 21st International Congress of Nutrition, will be held in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 2017. We look forward to having as many African delegates at this meeting. Below are some high-lights in pictures from the IUNS congress.

Representation from corporate orga-nizations providing nutrition products and services

Corporate organisations present at the 20th ICN to promote their products and services included Nestle, Coca-cola, General Mills, DSM, Unilever, and Danone among others.These organizations hosted several symposia on topics like; Early life nutrition in-terventions, biomarkers of nutritional development, Bread and health (UIB), Alive & Thrive, World Bank Costing of Scaling up Nutrition. Satellite symposia and seminars were part of the event and were hosted by; Forum SLAN, International Malnutrition Task force, IUNS task force, Nestle Nutrition Institute, HERO institute for infant nutrition, European Hydration institute, Ab-bott Nutrition health Institute, General Mills institute for health and nutrition and ALPRO. These symposia and fora allowed nutritionists to understand the work of these organizations and engage them in debates on topical nutrition issues.

Representation of African Nutrition-ists

The African continent as usual was strongly represented by del-egates from academia, government and private sector. Delegates came from the following African countries: Benin, Burkina Faso,Cameroon, Egypt, Ethiopia,Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan,Tanzania, Uganda, Zam-bia and Zimbabwe.

Launch of African Nutrition Matters newsletter

The African Nutrition Matters, the official newsletter for the African Nutrition Society was officially launched at the IUNS congress. The quarterly published newsletter features articles discussing topical issues within the field of nutrition related to Africa. Articles come from various sources including, opinion leaders, policy makers, students and young scientists.

African Nutrition Leadership Program (ANLP) Alumni Lunch It has become tradition for ANLP alumni to seek each other out at international conferences and meet for lunch. This conference was no exceptions. Almost all the ANLP alumni through the years were represented. New bonding, friendships and networks were established and others rekindled as the alumni discussed

Highlights from the 20th International Congress of Nutrition

Robert Fungo African Nutrition SocietyNonsikelelo Mathe University of Alberta, Canada


memories and the great times from Potchefstroom as well as progress in their careers.

Introduction of Professor Anna Lartey as IUNS president During the conference, the General Assembly of the Interna-tional Union of Nutrition Societies (IUNS) was held. During the Assembly, our own Professor Anna Lartey from Ghana, was confirmed by the IUNS Society delegates as the President for IUNS from 2013-2017. This was the biggest highlight of the IUNS congress for many of the participants, including Africans. Anna Lartey becomes the first African and only second woman to hold the position of President of the IUNS. At the same as-sembly , Professor Gideon Ndossi from Tanzania was elected as the IUNS council member.

Overall, the conference had a positive feedback from the atten-dance, we are looking forward to next edition in 2017.

Announcement of the IUNS 21st ICN

The IUNS 21st International Congress of Nutrition will be held in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The Congress will take place during the month of October 2017 in collaboration with the Argentinean Association of Nutrition. The scientific programme will develop during 5 days and it will be focussed on the motto chosen by the organizers; that is, the availabil-ity of sciences related to nutrition to collaborate in achieving food safety for human beings of this re-markable world.

The pillars of the scientific programme will be:

1. Scientific research: achievements, working programmes, future directions.

2. Nutrition resources: conflicts and opportunities.

3. Nutrition and illnesses: nutrition during illness and ill-nesses originated from nutrition.

4. Nutrition and policy: domestic and global strategies, regulations, needs and approaches.

Registration and call for abstracts should start late 2016 or early 2017.


Johanita KrugerUniversity of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.

My area of research is mineral nutrition of staple foods such as grains grain and le-gumes. I investigate the effect of the hard to cook (HTC) phenomena on the mineral content, distribution and availability in cowpea. In addition, I investigate the ef-fect of mineral availability, anti-nutrients and the location of minerals in millets and their mineral availability through the digestive tract. I recently received the Nevin Scrimshaw - International Nutri-tion Foundation (INF) fellowship 2013 to showcase my work on how “Genetically reduced phytate staple cereal grains in-crease iron intake–the case of sorghum”. In October 2013 I presented part of my work at the 20th SAAFoST Biennial In-ternational Congress & Exhibition, Pre-toria, South Africa. My colleagues and I have also recently published a paper in the journal of the institute of brewing for their 125th International review ‘Taylor, J.R.N., Dlamini, D.C. & Kruger, J. 2013. 125th Anniversary Review: The science of the tropical cereals, sorghum, maize and rice in relation to lager beer brewing. Journal of the Institute of Brewing, 119, 1-14’.

This has not come without challenges, I think everyone experiences different challenges, but finding your own voice and space within your research expertise is definitely one of them. It is not always easy to formulate your personal and pro-fessional goals and even more difficult to align and focus them. Sharing is not only caring, but also a very important way to enhance our impact as nutrition research-ers. I sometimes get the feeling that peo-ple think that they should play their cards

close to their chest to protect their own interests. However by sharing ones work, knowledge and experience I believe you will not only enhance your impact as a researchers but also personally benefit by creating opportunities and expanding network.

Martin N. MwangiWageningen University and Research

Centre

My area of research is micronutrients and infectious diseases. Micronutrient of interest are iron, zinc, folic acid, and vitamin A and infectious diseases in par-ticular malaria and HIV/ AIDS. Currently, I am working on novel staple food-based strategies to improve micronutrient sta-tus for better health and development in sub-Saharan Africa (INSTAPA project – see www.instapa.org). Specifically, I am investigating the safety and efficacy of iron supplementation in pregnant African women.

Recently I presented a paper entitled “Safety and efficacy of fortification ver-sus fortification plus supplementation with iron in African pregnant women: a randomised controlled trial” at the IUNS 20th International Congress of Nutri-tion held in Granada, Spain. In addition, I won the European Masters competition (in collaboration with three colleagues) for a video entitled “From too little to too much: the emergence of stunted obesity in developing countries”. This video is hosted by Sight and Life International. http://www.sightandlife.org/media/vid-eos/stunted-obesity-video.html

The major challenges facing young nutri-tion researchers include, inadequate train-ing/ preparation for high quality research

work; inadequate research facilities at local institutions; lack of access to re-search funding; lack of mentorship; lack of access to top quality journals and pub-lications; lack of professional networks; politics in professional organizations; no recognition at home; inadequate pay.

We enhance our impact as nutrition re-searchers by: building strong networks and collaborations; creating mentorship avenues for upcoming nutrition research-ers; mapping out the talent pool currently available in the African continent and making it easy to know who is working in your area. We can build professional organizations that are synergistic in ap-proach; Lobby for the nutrition agenda at all levels of government and global orga-nizations; Advocate for policy change and ensure that nutrition features high on the national agenda in our respective coun-tries; Form collaborations across borders, and provide peer review to each other; Design joint research projects e.g. multi-site studies that foster collaboration and empowerment.

DOUGNON Tamègnon Victo-rien Ecole Polytechnique d’Abomey-Calavi (EPAC), University of Abomey-Calavi, Benin.

I work a lot in areas as microbiology, toxicology, Nutrition and fields related to medicinal plants. Currently, I am doing work on the ‘Contributions of Solanum macrocarpon Linn (Solanaceae) to hu-man health’ and anaerobic biodigestion of chickens manure used for cultivation in Benin’. S. macrocarpon is a vegeta-ble produced by almost 95% of market gardeners. It is highly consumed by the population, however there is limited sci-

Spotlight: Young and emerging African nutrition researchers

Nonsikelelo Mathe University of Alberta, Canada


entific data about it in Cotonou. My study assesses nutritional and medicinal proper-ties of S. macrocarpon on the one hand, and the healthy techniques of production of this vegetable with chicken’s manure in Cotonou in the other hand.

I have several publications in this area and have presented at numerous conferences in African and globally. Most recently, I presented work in Granada Spain, Sene-gal and Cote d’ivoire. My colleagues and I have recently published the following papers:

Dougnon V., Edorh P., Bankolé H., Dougnon J., Klotoé JR., Loko F., Creppy E.E., Boko M. 2013. Présence du plomb dans les feuilles de Solanum macrocarpon Linn cultivé à Cotonou (Bénin) : rôle des fientes de poulets mal compostées. Comptes Rendus Biologie, 336(5-6) : 261-264 .

Aïssi A.K., Hounto-Ogouyemi A., Lozes E., John-son C.R., Kplakatcha S., Dougnon V., Tchiakpe E., Klotoe J.R., Barogui Y., Guedenon P., Edorh P.A., Loko F. 2013. Frequency of deficiencies in trace ele-ments and correlations with the degree of immuno-suppression in people living with HIV in Cotonou (Benin). International Journal of Biosciences, 3(4): 58-67.

The main challenges we face nutrition reasearchers in Africa are mainly: lack of funding for research on endogenous food; absence of infrastructure to conduct ad-vanced research in nutrition: and limited training of young researchers in nutrition.I think we can enhance our impact as nu-trition researchers by exploring our en-dogenous food. Most African countries still need their own tables of food com-position. To realise the impact of our re-searches we need to write and implement research projects between many African young researchers and scholars.

Aaron Christian Kobina University of Ghana, Lagon.

Pursuing a PhD in Population Studies af-ter completing my MPhil in Nutrition.My current research interest is deter-mining the relationship between climate change/variability and food and nutrition security in vulnerable households.

At the recent IUNS congress I presented a poster: Christian, AK, Anna Lartey, Ama de-Graft Aikins, Samuel Nii Ar-dey Codjoe (2013): Climate variability on caregiver’s mental health and child nutritional status. I have also presented

work a conferences in New Orleans, Boston and Bangkok. In New Orleans, I was awarded the Best Poster Award at the Population Association of America Conference, 2013, New Orleans, United States of America. `Poster title: Caregiv-ers’ Nutritional Knowledge, Income and Children’s Intake across Three Ecologi-cal Zones in Ghana: The ENAM Study. Aaron Christian et al. I have been fortu-nate to receive travel awards from several institutions including Carolina Population Centre, University of North Carolina and International Nutritional Foundation/Elli-sion Medical Foundation.

Together with my colleagues, I have re-cently published the following papers:

B. Sterk, A. K. Christian, A. C. Gogan, O. Sakyi-Dawson & D. Kossou (2013) Five Years After; the Impact of a Participatory Technology Development Programme as Perceived by Smallholder Farm-ers in Benin and Ghana, The Journal of Agricul-tural Education and Extension,19:4, 361-379, DOI: 10.1080/1389224X.2013.782819

Christian, AK, A Lartey, E Colecraft, GS Marquis, O Sakyi-Dawson, BK AhunuThe relationship between caregivers’ income gen-eration activities and children’s animal source food intake. African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutri-tion and Development. Volume 12, Number 1, Feb-ruary 2012.

Christian, AK and Nikoi G. Participant Perceptions of the Avian Flu School in Ghana, RUMINATIONS, Management Entity, Global Livestock Collaborative Research Support Program, University of Califor-nia-Davis, Program Winter -2008.

Young nutrition researchers particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa and studying in the region often lack adequate funds for their research. There are fewer opportunities for doctoral student sponsorship for pro-grams resident the region. The few avail-able also have research interests, which are driven by external interest.

The nutrition research reveals that factors leading to food security and malnutrition are as diverse as the consequence. Fami-lies may be exposed to food and nutrition problems due to a myriad of problems emanating from economic, social, spatial and geopolitical factors, thus nutrition re-searchers, especially those interested in interventions must be have adequate skills or knowledge in some of these fields or be equipped with skills to work together with a multidisciplinary team to ensure more success in nutrition interventions.

Lifoter Kenneth Navti, ANutr. Center for International Health at Ludwig-Maximilians Universität, Munich, Germany

My research interest is childhood obesity and I am currently involved in projects investigating ‘The socioeconomic pattern of weight gain in children in sub-Saharan Africa and the Contribution of stature to overweight/obesity in children’. At the re-cent IUNS congress in Spain, I presented part of my work in poster titled “Preva-lence of overweight/obesity in relation to height for age in Cameroon school age children”. I have recently presented work at conferences in Munich Germany and Bamenda, Cameroon. In addition, my colleagues (Navti LK, Samani-Radia D, McCarthy HD) and I, recently published a paper in the Annals of Human Biology titled: ‘Children’s body fatness and preva-lence of obesity in relation to height for age’. Annals of Human Biology, 2013.

In 2012, I attended attended an Interna-tional Workshop on Global Public Health, Center for International Health at Ludwig-Maximilians Universität, Munich, Ger-many. I have received travel awards and funding from the Nevin Scrimshaw Inter-national Nutrition Foundation, I benefited from a doctoral Scholarship at the Centre for International Health at Ludwig-Max-imilians Universität, Munich, Germany, to pursue a PhD in International Health. This scholarship is under the auspice of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the German Federal Min-istry for Economic Cooperation and De-velopment (BMZ), 2013, and have previ-ously received a Graduate Scholarship at the London Metropolitan University, to pursue a MSc. in Public Health Nutrition, 2007.I see limited nutrition leadership as a major challenge for young nutrition re-searchers and I believe, the use of evi-dence-based nutrition is very important and above all researchers must ensure that nutrition messages are consistent.


Professor Isaac O. Akinyele Professor Isaac Olaoluwa Akinyele, a re-nowned Human Nutrition and Develop-ment expert was born in Ibadan in Sep-tember 1947. He attended Government College Ibadan from 1960 to 1966, Uni-versity of Ibadan from September 1967 to June 1970 and obtained his MSc in May 1974 and PhD in May 1976 from the Uni-versity of Illinois Urbana Illinois USA.

He joined the Department of Human Nutrition in the University of Ibadan on September 20 1976 as Lecturer II. He was a visiting Associate Professor at Iowa State University Ames Iowa USA in the 1982/83 session during his sabbatical year and became a Professor of the Uni-versity of Ibadan on October 1 1990. He was Head, Department of Human Nutri-tion UI from 1991-1995, He also served as the Head, Department of Human Nutri-tion for the second time between August 1 2009 to July 31 2013. He became Dean, Faculty of Public Health from August 1 2004-July 31 2008. Professor Akinyele was President of the Nutrition Society of Nigeria from 2002 to 2004. He was also President of the Soci-ety for International Development (SID) Ibadan Chapter from 1988 to 1998 and member International Governing Council of the Society for International Develop-ment from 1991 to 2000 serving the last

three years under the Presidency of Dr Boutrous Boutrous Ghali the former Sec-retary General of the United Nations. Pro-fessor Akinyele was the President of the Food Basket Foundation International, the first indigenous Nutrition-based, non-profit, non-governmental organization in Nigeria since 1989. Professor Akinyele has received many awards for his contributions in various spheres of life. He received the outstand-ing achievement award for NGO manage-ment in Africa in 1999. He was a Fellow of the Nutrition Society of Nigeria 2003 and Fellow of the International Union of Nutritional Sciences (2005). In recogni-tion of his outstanding contributions to research in nutritional sciences nationally and internationally. He was one of only three Nigerians so honored since IUNS was established in 1948. He received an award of merit for his contribution to the development of Public Health in Africa in 2008. He was the first Nigerian to re-ceive the Nestle Nutrition Institute for Af-rica award for outstanding contribution to Public Health Nutrition in Africa in 2008. He was honored by the Nutrition Society of Nigeria with an award of excellence for his contribution to Nutritional Sciences in Nigeria. He was made an Honorary Fel-low of the Nigerian Institute of Food Sci-ence and Technology in October 2012.

Professor Akinyele, till his sad demise was the national coordinator of the NIGE-RIA FOODS DATABASE network and was elected to serve from 2011 to 2016 as the Regional Coordinator for Africa of the African Food Data System network (AFROFOODS) which is the African arm of the FAO/ INFOODS. Professor Akinyele served as a Consul-tant for the Food and Nutrition Divi-sion of FAO between from 1986 to 2007 and carried out assignments severally in Rome, Italy, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Ni-

geria, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Professor Akinyele has also served as a consultant to UNICEF, UNDP, USAID, IFAD, HKI and the World Bank in Washington D.C and Nigeria country office Abuja. Professor Akinyele was an erudite scholar whose academic achievements are unique in the application of a broad-based and integrated approach to teaching and re-search which is multi-sectoral and mul-tidisciplinary. He served as Principal Investigator or Co-Principal Investigator for many National and International Re-search projects. Professor Akinyele has strongly con-tributed to building capacity in nutrition and expending the number of nutrition professionals and scholars in Nigeria and abroad. He supervised and mentored many students at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, and graduated 80 B.Sc, over 65 M.Sc, 6 MPH and 10 Ph.D candidates, two of whom have been Pro-fessors for over five years. Others work in universities, International organizations such as UNICEF, GAIN, HKI, Micronu-trient Initiative Canada, in food industries such as Nestle Nigeria PLc, Unilever Ni-geria Plc and in government Ministries of Health and Agriculture at State and Fed-eral levels. Professor Akinyele had to his credit over 140 publications representing chapters in books, articles in learned peer reviewed journals, technical reports and conference proceedings. Professor Akinyele was married with children and grandchildren. He was called to glory on Thursday, 27th February, 2014. He will be sadly missed by the Nutrition community in Nigeria, Africa and the world.

written by Folake Samuel& Adepoju Oladejo

While we were ready to release this issue of the Newsletter, we were deeply saddened to learn of Prof. Akinyele pass-ing away on February 27th, 2014. At this difficult time, we would like to express our sincere sympathy and heartfelt condolences to his family and the Nutrition Society of Nigeria on behalf of ANS and the entire African nutrition com-munity. With sadness,

- The African Nutrition Matters Editorial team and the African Nutrition Society Council -

Obituary


13-15 May 2014Advanced course on dietary assessment methodsAbderdeen, Scotlandhttp://www.abdn.ac.uk/acdam

15-17 May 2014Building Resilience for Food and Nutrition SecurityAddis Ababa, Ethiopiahttp://www.2020resilience.ifpri.info

26-29 May 2014International Symposium on Understanding Moderate Malnutrition in Children for Effective InterventionsVienna, Austriahttp://goo.gl/PpL8XV

2-6 June 2014Micronutrient Forum Global Conference: Bridging Discovery and DeliveryAddis Ababa, Ethiopiahttp://www.micronutrientforum.org

14-18 July 2014Transforming Nutrition Ideas, Policy and Outcomes 2014Brighton, UKhttp://www.ids.ac.uk/events/transforming-nutrition-ideas-policy-and-outcomes-2014

21-25 July 20146th African Nutrition Epidemiology ConferenceAccra, Ghanahttp://www.nutritionghana.org/anec6

22-26 September 2014Soy possibilities: Myths & controversies debunkedVaal University of Technology, South AfricaContact info: [email protected]

14-17 October 20147th International Conference and Exhibition on Nutraceuticals and Functional FoodsIstanbul, Turkeyhttp://www.isnff2014.org

13-15 November 20142nd International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2) - Preparatory Technical MeetingFAO HQ, Rome, Italyhttp://www.fao.org/food/nutritional-policies-strategies/icn2/en/

EventsCalendar of upcoming nutrition events

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issue of march 2014

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