Subcribe
12 November, 2010
Food Systems and Health in Sub-Saharan Africa
Food Systems and Health in Sub-Saharan Africa
Presented by Professor Per Pinstrup-Andersen (2001 World Food Prize Laureate)
Date: Friday, November 12, 2010
Time: 1.15 pm - 2.45 pm
Venue: Conference Room 7, Temporary North Lawn Building (TNLB)
UN Headquarters, New York
This event will include a simultaneous live, interactive webcast, for those who are not able to attend in person. Register here to access the webcast on the day of the event.***
As part of UNU World Wide in New York Series, the United Nations University Office at the UN, New York (UNU-ONY), is organizing an event entitled "Food Systems and Health in Sub-Saharan Africa".
This particular event will focus on the most important interactions between food systems and human health, along with suggestions about policy priorities for African food systems that would improve human health.
The presentation will provide evidence of the potential health and nutrition gains from collaborative action by researchers, policy-makers and program implementers in the health and food sectors. It will be shown, preambulatorily, that the lack of reciprocal discourse between the worlds of research and policy implementation are harmful to health and nutrition,and it will be argued that tearing down the communication barriers between the two sectors would strengthen both sectors and make research, policies and programs
more effective in solving both food and health-related problems.
The presentation will largely be based on a newly published book, "The African Food System and its Interactions with Human Health", edited by Professor Per Pinstrup-Andersen. Cornell University Press, published in collaboration with the United Nations University.
This book is a product of a UNU-Cornell Africa Series symposium. To view other installments in the Africa Series please click here.
Professor Pinstrup-Andersen's PowerPoint presentation can be downloaded by clicking the link below:
Food Systems and Health in Sub-Saharan Africa- PowerPoint Presentation.pptWith the UNU Worldwide in New York Series, the United Nations
University Office at the UN, New York, as part of its mandate,
showcases the recent work of UNU Institutes and programmes from around
the world. In conjunction with other experts from different
organizations, UNU researchers share new ideas and highlight new policy
avenues in the areas of security, environment and development.
Speaker:
- Per Pinstrup-Andersen, Professor at Cornell University and 2001 World Food Prize Laureate
- Jean-Marc Coicaud, Director of United Nations University Office at the UN, New York
Some Background Readings
Pinstrup-Andersen, P. & Shimokawa, S. (2008). Do Poverty and Poor Health and Nutrition Increase the Risk of Armed Conflict Onset? Food Policy, Vol. 33 Issue 6, (pp. 513-520)
Pinstrup-Andersen, P. (2007). Agricultural Research and Policy for Better Health and Nutrition in Developing Countries: A Food Systems Approach. In K. Otsuka & K. Kalirajan (Eds.), Contributions of Agricultural Economics to Critical Policy Issues (pp. 187-198). Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Pinstrup-Andersen, P. (2006). Focus the Global Food System on Health and Nutrition Goals. International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability, 4(1), (pp. 2-4)
Pinstrup-Andersen, P. (2003). Food Security in Developing Countries. UN Chronicle, Vol. 40 Issue 3, (p. 65)
Some Related UNU Publications
The following resources can be downloaded from http://www.wider.unu.edu or from http://www.ony.unu.edu
Christiaensen, L. (2009). Revisiting the Global Food Architecture: Lessons from the 2008 Food Crisis. WIDER Discussion Paper, Vol. 2009/04
Andrews, C. & Flores, M. (2008). Vulnerability to Hunger: Improving Food Crisis Responses in Fragile States. WIDER Research Paper, 2008/42
Gbetnkom, D. (2007). Forest Management, Gender, and Food Security of the Rural Poor in Africa. WIDER Research Paper, Vol. 2007/86
Some UNU Online Resources
UNU Priority Africa (www.unu.edu/africa/) "Priority Africa" provides a portal to the scope and variety of the UNU's Africa-focused work, including research, policy studies and capacity development initiatives, as well as dissemination initiatives.
Visit (http://unu.edu/africa/files/UNU_PriorityAfrica_publications.pdf) to view a list of UNU Africa-related publications.
UNU Food and Nutrition Programme for Human and Social Development (UNU-FNP) (www.fnp.unu.edu) UNU-FNP is dedicated to improving lives through the generation of new knowledge and by providing access to current food and nutrition information within institutions. This knowledge is then applied at a grassroots level by in-country individual nutrition professionals and practitioners.
UNU Africa Series: In collaboration with Cornell University, UNU brings together academic experts and practitioners on and from Africa, the UN, and civil society to discuss many of the major challenges facing Africa in the 21st century. Visit http://www.ony.unu.edu/events-forums/africa/ for information, videos and interviews.
Pinstrup-Andersen, P. (2007). The African Food System (Video), UNU Africa Series Symposium, UNU Videoportal.
UNU Africa Series Symposium, (2007). "The African Food System and its Interactions with Health and Nutrition" (co-organized by the United Nations University (UNU) and Cornell University, in partnership with United Nations Children's Fund, the World Food Programme, the World Health Organization and the Office of the Special Adviser on Africa).
Webcast: Archived Video - English (Part I): 2 hours and 20 minutes
Webcast: Archived Video - English (Part II): 53 minutes
Webcast: Archived Video - English (Part III): 3 hours and 34 minutes
Speaker's Profile
Per Pinstrup-Andersen is the H. E. Babcock Professor of Food,
Nutrition and Public Policy, the J. Thomas Clark Professor of
Entrepreneurship, and Professor of Applied Economics at Cornell
University and Professor of Agricultural Economics at Copenhagen
University. He is past Chairman of the Science Council of the
Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and
Past President of the American Agricultural Economics Association
(AAEA). He has a B.S. from the Danish Agricultural University, a M.S.
and Ph.D. from Oklahoma State University and honorary doctoral degrees
from universities in the United States, United Kingdom, Netherlands,
Switzerland, and India. He is a fellow of the American Association for
the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the American Agricultural
Economics Association. He served 10 years as the International Food
Policy Research Institute's Director General and seven years as
department head; seven years as an economist at the International
Center for Tropical Agriculture, Colombia; and six years as a
distinguished professor at Wageningen University. He is the 2001 World
Food Prize Laureate and the recipient of several awards for his
teaching, research and communication of research results. His research
and teaching include economic analyses of food and nutrition policy,
globalization and poverty, agricultural development, the interaction
between the food system and human health and nutrition, and
agricultural research and technology policy.
Moderator's Profile
Jean-Marc Coicaud is the Director of the
United Nations University (UNU) Office at the United Nations
Headquarters (New York). He was Senior Academic Officer and Director of
Studies at the UNU headquarters (Tokyo) from 1996 to 2003. From 1992 to
1996, he served in the Executive Office of the United Nations
Secretary-General as a speechwriter for Dr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali. A
former fellow at Harvard University (Center for International Affairs,
Department of Philosophy and Harvard Law School, from 1986 to 1992),
Coicaud has held appointments such as Cultural Attaché with the French
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Legislative Aide with the European
Parliament (Financial Committee). He has also been a Visiting Professor
at the Ecole Normale Supérieure-Ulm in Paris and has taught at the New
School for Social Research (New York). In addition, he has been a
Senior Fellow at the United States Institute of Peace (Washington,
D.C.), a Global Research Fellow at New York University School of Law
and a Visiting Scholar at the School of Public Policy and Management of
Tsinghua University (Beijing). Coicaud holds a Ph.D. in Political
Science-Law from the Sorbonne and a Doctorat d'Etat in philosophy from
the Institut d'Etudes Politiques of Paris. He also holds undergraduate
and graduate degrees in literature and linguistics.
Jean-Marc Coicaud has published 14 books in the fields of comparative
politics, political and legal theory, international relations and
international law. They are available in English, French, Japanese,
Chinese, Spanish and Arabic, and include the following single-authored
books: Légitimité
et Politique (Presses Universitaires de France, 1997), Politics and
Legitimacy: A Contribution to the Study of Political Right and
Political Responsibility (Cambridge University Press, 2002), Beyond the
National Interest (United States Institute of Peace Press, 2007),
Kokuren no Genkai/Kokuren no Mirai (Future of the UN/Limits of the UN -
Fujiwara Shoten, 2007), Mai Xiang Guo Ji Fa Zhi (Towards the
International Rule of Law - Sanlian Shudian, 2008). His latest book,
co-edited with Hilary Charlesworth, is Fault Lines of International
Legitimacy (Cambridge University Press, 2009). Jean-Marc Coicaud is now
finishing a new single-authored book, International Legitimacy and
Global Justice.
Jean-Marc Coicaud is a member of the Advisory Board of the Carnegie
Council's Global Policy Innovations (New York) and of the journal
Global Policy (London). He also serves as an adviser for the Fondation
pour l'Innovation Politique (Paris).
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Page last modified Last modified: December 15 2010 at 10:59:24 AM.
