NAV Publiekslezing 2023

On January 26th 2023 the tenth public lecture by the Dutch Academy of Nutritional Sciences (NAV) will take place.

This year, Saskia Osendarp, PhD, will discuss the challenges of global food and nutrition security. Saskia Osendarp is the Executive Director of the Micronutrient Forum, an international expert organization and knowledge broker on micronutrient malnutrition, based in Washington, DC, USA.

The public lecture of Saskia Osendarp is entitled:

Nutrition in crisis

Since 2020 the world is facing an accumulation of crises threatening global food and nutrition security. The COVID19 pandemic, climate change and conflicts have led to a dramatic increase in the number of people suffering from hunger around the world.

But this is just the tip of the iceberg. What is less visible is the surge in the number of people that simply can no longer afford a healthy diet with sufficient nutritious foods rich in micronutrients. Even in high income countries, the food price inflation makes nutritious foods unaffordable for many low-income consumers. This is particularly problematic for vulnerable groups with high needs: preschool children and pregnant women, putting them at risk of micronutrient deficiencies. Globally 56% of all preschool children and 69% of women of reproductive age suffer from at least one micronutrient deficiency, and even in high income countries deficiencies are prevalent.

The implications for billions of women and children are serious. Micronutrient deficiencies in early life have irreversible, life long, adverse effects on health and development.

And yet, unlike other challenges in the health or nutrition field, we do have a strong and consistent evidence base on a suite of highly cost-effective interventions across food- health- and social protection systems. However, we need to learn more about the interactions and trade-offs between these interventions, micronutrient status and the interrelated crises we face: climate change, pandemics, conflicts, and food price inflation. Some micronutrient interventions—such as boosting animal source food consumption—may benefit individual micronutrient status while having a negative impact on climate. In turn, climate change and extreme weather not only threaten the micronutrient content of nutritious foods, and reduce yields, but also raise the risk of infectious diseases, increasing people’s need for micronutrients. These kinds of interactions point to the need for more integrated solutions that put nutrition, and more specifically micronutrient nutrition, at the heart of our efforts to build resilience in a world of overlapping shocks and crises.

We cordially invite you to attend this NAV public lecture.

Where: This will take place at Antropia in Driebergen-Zeist (the Netherlands) and can also be attended digitally (hybrid meeting).

When: January 26 2023, starting at 15h.

Costs: Physically attending in Driebergen-Zeist (NL): free for NAV members and €15 for non NAV members
Digitally attending: no registration costs

This NAV Public Lecture has been made possible with the support of the Van Dam Nutrition Foundation

 


Yes, I would like to register for the Public Lecture (English spoken) at Driebergen-Zeist. Send email.
When you want to attend in Driebergen-Zeist (NL), we ask a registration fee of €15 for non NAV members; the registration fee for NAV members is free.
Attending digitally is free:  the login data

14:30 – 15:00: Welcome
15:00 – 17:00: public lecture
17:00 – 18:00: drinks and networking
Location: Antropia, Driebergen-Zeist

 


Saskia Osendarp

Saskia Osendarp, PhD, is the Executive Director of the Micronutrient Forum, an international expert organization and knowledge broker on micronutrient malnutrition, based in Washington, DC. She has 30 years of experience in international nutrition research, in both public as well as private sector. Saskia lived and worked for 7 years at the ICDDR,B, Bangladesh and spent 10 years in Unilever as Lead Scientist micronutrients and child nutrition. Before joining the Micronutrient Forum, she was working as independent consultant for international NGOs and research institutes. Recently, she has been a co-founder and is co-facilitating the Standing Together for Nutrition Consortium, a collaboration of experts working in nutrition, foodsystems, health and economics analyzing the impact and responses of the COVID19 crisis on malnutrition. Saskia Osendarp is a visiting associate professor Nutrition and Health at Wageningen University, a member of the Independent Expert Group for the Global Nutrition Report and is a (co-)author on more than 65 peer-reviewed publications, scientific publications and book-chapters.

Over the past three years, the Forum has delivered unique value to the nutrition community by developing collaboration platforms to address pressing topical issues (Standing Together for Nutrition), responding to the needs of partners for greater collaboration on specific topics (Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies), and by addressing longstanding issues (Biochemical Status Coalition).

 

Date: 26-01-2023 - 26-01-2023
Time: 14:30 - 18:00
Location: Antropia
Address: Hoofdstraat 8
City: Driebergen
Country: Netherlands
Location URL: https://www.antropia.nl/route/