Activities for the Africa region for 2006

Through the activities of the Federation of African Nutrition Societies (FANUS), country associations are being encouraged.  FANUS is organizing its first conference in Ouarzazate, Morocco from May 7 to 11, 2007. Call for abstracts and registration is on-going.

In August 2006, the 2^nd African Nutrition Epidemiology conference was organized in Accra, Ghana. This was hosted by the Department of Nutrition and Food Science and the college of Health Sciences, University of Ghana. About 150 participants were drawn from 10 countries, mostly in Africa. Others came from Brazil, India, USA and UK. The theme for the 2006 conference was “The nutritional and epidemiological transition in developing countries: effects on economic and human development”.  Sub-themes covered included Maternal and child nutrition, Diet and lifestyle, Food security, Food safety and nutritional quality, Nutrition and School Health and Nutrition and HIV/AIDS.

The Ghana Nutrition Association (GNA) was formally inaugurated during the ANEC conference by Prof FT Sai, a renowned Ghanaian Physician and nutrition advocate. Plans are on the way to hold the 3^rd ANEC in Kenya in 2008.

The 5^th African Nutrition Leadership Program was successfully organized (from November 1-10, 2006) under the leadership of Drs Johann Jerling and Kombi Mbhenyane in South Africa. An ANLP for French-Speaking Africans is being planned as a pre-conference activity during the FANUS conference in Morocco 2007. 

The Africa Union in collaboration with WHO-AFRO held an expert meeting to develop an action plan for the African Regional Nutrition Strategy 2005-2015 (ARNS) in Congo Brazzaville from December 4-7, 2006. The specific objectives of the meeting were: i) to orient countries on the ARNS and to prioritize the activities identified in the ARNS; ii) to develop a framework for the implementation and monitoring of the ARNS at the country level; iii) to agree on the roles and responsibilities of key stakeholders in the implementation of the Strategy. The IUNS Council member for Africa, Dr Anna Lartey in collaboration with Dr Steven Shongwe (ECSA) and Dr Funke Bogunjoko (WHO-AFRO) jointly presented a paper on “Technical capacity for planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of nutrition policies and plans in the Africa region: challenges and prospects.”