UNU - Cornell Africa Series

Series One: The African Food System and its Interactions With Health and Nutrition

delegates at un

13 November 2007—9:30 - 5:45
United Nations Headquarters
New York
The Dag Hammarskjold Library Penthouse
(above the 3rd floor of the DHL)

9:30 - 10:00am

Opening

Jean-Marc Coicaud, Director, UNU Office in New York

Keynote Address:

Message from the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon

David Skorton, President, Cornell University

Message from Konrad Osterwalder, Rector, United Nations University (UNU)

Welcome and Introductory Comments

Patrick Stover, Director of UNU Food and Nutrition Programme; Director of the Division of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University

Per Pinstrup-Andersen, H.E. Babcock Professor of Food, Nutrition and Public Policy, Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University

Moderator: Patrick Stover

10:00- 10:20am

The nutritional situation in Sub-Saharan Africa and progress towards achieving MDG 1 for hunger alleviation

Per Pinstrup-Andersen, H.E. Babcock Professor of Food, Nutrition and Public Policy, Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University

Derrill Watson, Ph. D. Candidate, Department of Economics, Cornell University

10:20 - 10:40 am

The major disease burdens for Sub-Saharan Africa and their interaction with the food systems

Onesmo ole-MoiYoi, Chairman (Provost) Kenyatta University; Senior Visiting Scientist & (formerly) Director of Research and Partnerships, International Center of Insect Physiology and Ecology

10:40 - 11:10 am

Discussion

11:10 - 11:30 am

Strengthening the role of women in the food systems in Sub-Saharan Africa to achieve nutrition and health goals

Speciosa Wandira, former Vice-President of the Republic of Uganda

11:30 - 11:40 am

Break

Moderator: Ian Darnton-Hill

11:40 - 12:00 pm

Poverty reduction as a tool to achieve improved health and freedom from hunger in Sub-Saharan Africa

Christopher Barrett, Professor, Applied Economics and Management; Co-Director of the African Food Security and Natural Resources Management program, Cornell University

12:00 - 12:20 pm

The impact of poor health and nutrition on labor productivity, poverty and economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa

David Sahn, International Professor of Economics; Director of Cornell Food and Nutrition Policy Program

12:20 - 12:40 pm

The interaction between HIV/AIDS and the food system in Sub-Saharan Africa

Stuart Gillespie, Senior Research Fellow, International Food Policy Research Institute

12:40 - 1:00 pm

Discussion

1:00 - 2:00 pm

Lunch

Moderator: Jean-Marc Coicaud

2:00 - 2:20 pm

Fighting animal and zoonotic diseases Sub-Saharan Africa to improve the food system and human health

Alfonso Torres, Associate Dean of Public Policy, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University

2:20 - 2:40 pm

Pest management, farmer incomes and health risks in Sub-Saharan Africa: Pesticides, host plant resistance and other measures (Rebecca Nelson)

Rebecca Nelson, Associate Professor, Plant Pathology, Cornell University

2:40 - 3:00 pm

Discussion

3:00 - 3:20 pm

Promoting agricultural development in Sub-Saharan Africa to achieve the MDGs for poverty, hunger, and health

Monty Jones, Executive Secretary, Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa; co-recipient of the 2004 World Food Prize

3:20 - 3:40 pm

Prioritizing food system research to achieve nutrition and health goals

Joachim von Braun, Director General, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)

3:40 - 4:00 pm

Break

4:00 - 4:20 pm

Strengthening rural markets and infrastructure in Sub-Saharan Africa to reduce poverty, hunger and strengthen health

Akinwumi A. Adesina, Interim Vice President, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, The Rockefeller Foundation

4:20 - 4:50 pm

Discussion

Moderator: Speciosa Wandira

4:50 - 5:30 pm

Panel presentation and discussion: Towards an integrated food and health agenda for the United Nations to achieve the hunger, nutrition and health components of the MDGs

Ian Darnton-Hill, Senior Adviser, Child Survival and Nutrition, UNICEF

Ronald Sibanda, Director, Liaison Office to the Africa Union (AU) and Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), WFP

Werner Obermayer, Deputy to the Executive Director, Office at UN Headquarters in New York, WHO

5:30 - 5:45 pm

Concluding comments: Per Pinstrup-Andersen, H.E. Babcock Professor of Food, Nutrition and Public Policy, Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University

Attendee Information

For those without UN ID

  1. Please register to attend
  2. Go to the UN Visitor's entrance on 46th and 1st Avenue
  3. Pass through the UN security screening area
  4. Be at the UN information desk by by 9:30am
  5. A UNU staff member will meet you near the desk to escort you to the venue

For those with UN ID

Please proceed directly to the fourth floor UN Dag Hammarskjold Library (DHL) by taking the elevators in the UN DHL to the 3rd floor. Then walk up one flight to the fourth floor.