Symposium to discuss results on estimates of global burden of foodborne diseases

Testing milk in Kenya’s informal market (photo credit: ILRI/Dave Elsworth).

Illness and death from diseases caused by contaminated food are a constant threat to public health and a significant impediment to socioeconomic development worldwide.

To help address the lack of data on the global extent of this problem, the World Health Organization established the Foodborne Disease Burden Epidemiology Reference Group (FERG) to generate the first ever estimates of the global burden of foodborne disease.

The group published its results in December 2015 in a series of scientific articles in PLOS Collections and a report titled WHO estimates of the global burden of foodborne diseases.

They include estimates of the burden of foodborne diseases caused by 31 bacteria, viruses, parasites, toxins and chemicals.

The results will be presented and discussed at a FERG symposium in Amsterdam, the Netherlands on 15-16 December 2015.

Countries will be able to use these estimates to inform national policy development aimed at improving food safety and public health throughout the food chain.

 

Call for abstracts: Global Development Symposium 2014

The Global Development Symposium 2014 takes place on 4–7 May 2014 at the University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada. Underscoring the critical links between human and animal health, the symposium will explore interdisciplinary approaches to improving public health and food security while empowering communities for lasting change.

Participants are expected to include social, environmental, medical and veterinary scientists as well as policymakers, students and community members who have an interest in positive global development.

The organizers of the symposium have issued a call for oral, poster and pitch for progress abstracts to be submitted up to 13 January 2014. 

The organizers will also support the travel costs of up to 15 delegates through the International Connections Scholarship supported by Aeroplan. Both professionals and students are encouraged to apply for these awards based on the following criteria:

• Preference will be given to those individuals from a developing nation or the Canadian North
• Demonstrated financial need as articulated through the application process
• If applying as a student, must be a full time student at a recognized college or university (a letter from the Department Chair of your institution must be included in the application submission)

Applications for scholarships will be accepted until 15 November 2013. 

Below are the expanded themes of the symposium

Theme 1: Global public health

• Ecosystem approaches to health
• Translating research to action to policy 
• One Health
• Educating the next generation of leaders
• Domestic, wild and feral animals 
• Crisis Intervention

Theme 2: Food and water security

• Sustaining communities
• Market integration
• Adding value to family agriculture
• Woman and children
• Climate change and health
• Water systems and infrastructure
• Human-animal interactions

Theme 3: Community empowerment

• Outcome assessment: qualitative and quantitative
• Stakeholder consultation, learning and sharing
• Participatory design, research, monitoring and evaluation
• Conservation, biodiversity and natural resource management
• Animals’ role in the community

Visit the symposium website for more information and details of how to register