CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health releases 2016 annual report

The CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH) is pleased to announce the publication of its 2016 annual report, detailing the accomplishments and developments of the fifth and final year of the program’s first phase. The report highlights research and results from 2016, including

• the successful expansion of aflasafe, a biocontrol product helping to fight aflatoxin contamination across Africa;
• the Stories of Change in Nutrition case study series, which shares experiences to help countries understand how an enabling environment can combine with policies and programs to drive nutritional improvement;
• the first Agriculture, Nutrition and Health Academy Week, held in Addis Ababa, which brought together more than 300 participants from around the world to present research and learn from one another;
• a randomized trial of an integrated nutrition-sensitive agriculture program in Burkina Faso; and
• an update on the ongoing impacts of biofortification, with more than 140 varieties of 10 crops released in over 30 countries.

While the activities and accomplishments of each research flagship are laid out, readers will also find a spotlight on A4NH projects and programs in Africa, as well as an update on work related to gender.

Download the report

 

Workshop identifies strategies to improve food safety in low and middle income countries

Selling agricultural produce at Chimbiya Market, near Dedza in central Malawi (photo credit: ILRI/Mann).

 

On 24 May 2017, the CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH) and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine hosted policymakers, researchers and donors at a workshop in Belgium under the theme Better targeting food safety investments in low- and middle-income countries.

Among the presenters were three scientists from the International Livestock Research Institute who presented on why food safety matters in development from an agri-food system perspective, the experience of food safety management in Vietnam, and economic and health outcomes and impacts of food safety interventions.

Over the course of the workshop, several major themes emerged:

1. Collaboration and knowledge sharing among the different sectors is critical and must be encouraged.
2. Consumers have to weigh the risks when considering what choices to make, and they need more information in order to make better decisions.
3. The problem of lack of access to safe foods is particularly acute for small children; not only are they disproportionately affected by foodborne illnesses and deaths, but they have the least control over their own exposure to this risk.

A detailed post about the workshop is available on the A4NH website.

 

USAID to host two-day online discussion on food safety research in developing countries

Fresh produce on sale in a local market in Malawi (photo credit: IFPRI).

 

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) will hold a two-day online AgExchange on food safety beginning 20 June 2017 at 1000 hours EDT (GMT – 4). The online exchange will provide a forum to discuss key constraints and research priorities in food safety and overarching food safety needs, concerns and gaps in Feed the Future countries.

By taking part in the discussion, you will assist USAID to (1) identify gaps and weaknesses in global research for food safety and (2) evaluate the existing research portfolio to assess the need for research in food safety to ensure successful implementation of the United States Government Global Food Security Strategy.

The discussion will be facilitated by USAID staff. For more information, visit the event web page or email the Agrilinks Team at agrilinks@agrilinks.org.

 

Join our webinar! Designing projects for improving nutrition through animal source foods—Tomorrow, 4 May

ILRI Clippings

The following announcement comes from Jennie Lane,
animal health and livelihoods technical advisor for Land O’Lakes International Development.

Land O’Lakes International Development and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) are pleased to announce a webinar option for their meeting tomorrow, 4 May, in Nairobi, Kenya, on Animal Source Foods for Nutrition Impact: Evidence and Good Practices for Informed Project Design. This one-day event will be held on the ILRI Nairobi campus from 8:30am to 5:00pm on Thu 4 May 2017. While the physical workshop is by invitation only due to space limitations, portions of the day’s presentations and discussions will be available as recordings later.  

Webinar invitation

Animal Source Foods for Nutrition Impact:

Evidence and Good Practices
for Informed Project Design

4 May 2017

Click here to register

The webinar will stream audio during the day from approximately 8:45am–5pm East Africa Time. A detailed agenda is available…

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New FAO report discusses options for influencing food environments for healthy diets

A man works in his vegetable field on the Barotse Floodplain, Zambia (photo credit: WorldFish/Anna Fawcus).

A new publication by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) focuses on influencing food environments for healthy diets through four areas: production of diversified food, food safety, food labelling and food-based dietary guidelines. FAO defines food environments as the settings with all the different types of food made available and accessible to people as they go about their daily lives.

The chapter on food safety was authored by Delia Grace, veterinary epidemiologist and food safety expert at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). The chapter begins with an overview on foodborne diseases and the groups that are most vulnerable. It then goes on to discuss the health burden of—and trends in—foodborne diseases, the role of food safety in ensuring a healthy food environment and interventions that countries can take to improve food safety.

The recommendations put forward for improving food safety are:

• A ‘farm-to-fork’ approach is best for identifying control points
• Use risk-based approaches rather than hazard-based ones
• Where the informal sector predominates, professionalize rather than penalize
• Encourage the uptake of appropriate technology
• Improve food safety governance
• Take into account the costs of disease control
• Carry out holistic prioritization

The book was developed by FAO’s Nutrition and Food Systems Division as a follow-up activity to the Second International Conference on Nutrition held at FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy on 19–21 November 2014.

Download the book

 

Vietnam launches report on better managing risks to food safety

ILRI news

Cover of the new World Bank food safety in Vietnam report: Please check back here in another three days to get a link to the report online.

This post is written by Chi Nguyen, communications officer for ILRI in East and Southeast Asia (c.nguyen [at] cgiar.org).

A report launched this week on managing risks to food safety in Vietnam was prepared by the World Bank and other research and development partners at the request of the Government of Vietnam. The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) was the lead technical partner in development of the report.

Food Safety Risk Management in Vietnam: Challenges and opportunities, launched on 27 Mar 2017, includes an urgent call for better management of food safety issues in Vietnam and more effective communications to raise public awareness of food safety issues. The report found that the primary cause of food-borne illness in Vietnam comes from…

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A deep dive inside Vietnam’s pork foodshed to determine food safety issues and their practical resolutions

ILRI news

Selling pork at a traditional ‘wet’ market in Hung Yen province, northern Vietnam (photo credit: ILRI/HUPH/Ngan Tran).

Pork meat sold in Vietnam has been found by researchers to commonly carry bacteria that could cause disease—but they also found that the risk of that meat sickening people is largely reduced due to the Vietnamese habit of buying very fresh meat and cooking it shortly thereafter.

The research results indicate ways that the safety of pork meat can be even further improved in this fast-growing and -evolving market. The bottom line is that ensuring safe pork consumption in Vietnam is very important—and very doable.

Conspicuous (pork) consumption

Pigs and pig keeping, and pork and pork eating, are ubiquitous in Vietnam, where pork remains the favoured meat—the food choice of both the poor and the rich, of the rural farm worker and the urban elite. Pork is consumed daily and widely in Vietnamese…

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Agrilinks and Microlinks to host webinar on safety of animal-source foods for improved nutrition

Locally made beef stew sold in Bagnon market at Yopougon, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire (photo credit: ILRI/Valentin Bognan Koné).

What are the key food safety issues related to livestock production and animal-source foods and what are their potential impacts on human health and nutrition?

Join an upcoming joint Agrilinks and Microlinks webinar on 25 January 2017 at 0900–1100 hours EDT where experts will share effective approaches to improving food safety and quality related to livestock production.

Attendees will learn about improving food safety and quality throughout the livestock value chain including production methods, processing and storage technologies, risk assessments, policy impacts, opportunities for the private sector and consumer education.

• Hung Nguyen-Viet from the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) will pay particular attention to the relationship between animal-source foods and the impact of foodborne disease, while also considering how traditional and gender roles in livestock and fish value chains can impact exposure and risk.
• Dennis Karamuzi will outline the steps taken by the Government of Rwanda and the Rwanda Dairy Competitiveness Project II to increase the supply of clean milk for rural and urban consumers.
• Silvia Alonso from ILRI will discuss the role of informal markets in meeting the nutrition needs of the most vulnerable communities and the tension between food safety, livelihoods and access to food that characterize such markets. She will present new research aimed to investigate how ‘light-touch’ interventions in informal dairy markets could give win-win outcomes on health and livelihoods.

Presenters will discuss new actions taking place in development that help provide clean, safe and affordable animal-source foods to poor urban and rural households. In addition, the webinar will touch on the role of animal-source foods in the global burden of foodborne disease and why the safety of animal-source foods plays an important role in food security.

Register for the webinar

 

ILRI scientist receives honorary professorship at Hanoi University of Public Health

Hung Nguyen-Viet (right) receives his award of honorary professor at the Hanoi University of Public Health. Also pictured are Le Nhan Tuan, Director of the HIV/AIDS Prevention Center of Hanoi (left) and Hoang Van Minh, Vice Rector of Hanoi University of Public Health (centre) (photo credit: ILRI/Hung Nguyen-Viet).

Hung Nguyen-Viet, a senior scientist at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), was awarded an honorary professorship by the Hanoi University of Public Health in recognition of his contribution to teaching and scientific research. The award was presented at a ceremony that took place on 18 Nov 2016 in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Hung holds a PhD in Life and Environmental Sciences from Besançon, France. His current research focuses on the link between health and agriculture, food safety, and infectious and zoonotic diseases with an emphasis on the use of risk assessment for food safety management with an integrative approach (One Health and ecohealth). He is also ILRI’s acting regional representative for East and Southeast Asia.

Congratulations, Hung!

 

Safe Food, Fair Food project research presented at tropical veterinary medicine conference

Safe Food, Fair Food

Serving of fried pork and raw relishes in a pork joint in Kampala, Uganda (photo credit: ILRI/Martin Heilmann).

Research findings from the Safe Food, Fair Food project were presented at the first joint international conference of the Association of Institutions for Tropical Veterinary Medicine (AITVM) and the Society of Tropical Veterinary Medicine (STVM) which was held in Berlin, Germany on 4–8 September 2016.

AITVM is a foundation of 24 veterinary faculties and livestock institutes based in Africa, Asia and Europe with the mandate to improve human health and quality of life by means of increased and safe food production in tropical regions through enhancement of research, training and education in veterinary medicine and livestock production within the framework of sustainable development.

STVM is made up of scientists, veterinarians and students from more than 40 countries with common interests in tropical veterinary medicine. It is a non-profit organization whose purpose is…

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