Once every four years, nutrition researchers, scientists, and policy makers from across the globe convene in a different locale for the International Union of Nutrition Scientists (IUNS) International Congress of Nutrition (ICN).
This year marks the 21st session, to be held in Buenos Aires, Argentina for the first time. The chosen theme, “From Sciences to Nutrition Security” is particularly relevant in an era in which we are seeing many developing and ongoing global nutrition security crises due in no small part to the effects of climate change.
In her welcome letter, Dr. Mabel Alicia Brígida Carrera, president of the IUNS 21st International Congress of Nutrition (ICN), emphasized the aim of the ICN-- to create an environment where a breadth of knowledge can be exchanged, stating an intent "to focus on every aspect of nutrition issues going through a wide variety of topics which will be dealt with from different perspectives in order to enrich our attendees’ points of view."
The Friedman School will be well represented at the conference, including research, posters, and presentations from a wide cross-section of our projects, faculty, and students. Listed here are six of the Friedman-based projects that will be showing research during the conference period, from October 15th-20th. If you are planning on attending the conference, we've included a schedule below so you can stay up to date about all of the Friedman-related activities at ICN. Follow along on Twitter during the conference with the hashtag #FriedmanAtICN to join the conversation.
The Indicators of Affordability of Nutritious Diets in Africa (IANDA) Project
Led by Friedman Associate Professor Jennifer Coates, Professor Will Masters, and Dr. Anna Herforth, IANDA works with the governments of Ghana and Tanzania to develop metrics about the availability and affordability of diverse foods and nutritious diets. IANDA is currently piloting four new measures: the Cost of a Diverse Diet, the Cost of Nutrient Adequacy, the Cost of a Recommended Diet, and the Nutritious food Price Index, (NPI). The resulting metrics will provide accountability and help policymakers better diagnose and take action upon the nutritional challenges within their food systems using publicly accessible resources.
The IMMANA Fellowships program
Under the leadership of Friedman Professors Will Masters and Patrick Webb, the IMMANA Fellowships program is building a core group of early career researchers who are exploring new methods toward creating the most cost-effective actions for sustainable, large-scale improvements in agriculture, nutrition and health. The fellowships facilitate learning, sharing and new interdisciplinary research collaborations, while simultaneously developing scientific evidence to inform policies and investments in agriculture and food systems for improved nutrition and health.
The International Dietary Data Expansion (INDDEX) Project
INDDEX is developing a global architecture for dietary data assessment. By incorporating innovative technologies, leveraging existing data, strengthening institutions, and demonstrating the policy relevance of improved food consumption data, the work of the INDDEX Project will enable the design and implementation of more effective food, nutrition, and agricultural policies and programs that will improve the health, well-being, and livelihoods of people worldwide. INDDEX is led by Friedman Associate Professor Jennifer Coates and Professor Beatrice Rogers.
Food Aid Quality Review (FAQR)
A team led by Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy faculty has been tasked by the USAID Office of Food for Peace to review the quality of international food aid. FAQR seeks to provide USAID and its partners with actionable recommendations on ways to improve nutrition among vulnerable people for whom the direct distribution of food aid can make a significant impact. The project is doing so by integrating the latest science on nutritional needs of beneficiary populations across the developing world and a growing understanding of the role of specially-formulated commodities in meeting defined nutritional needs. Take a look at FAQR's ICN activities in detail here.
REFINE (Research Engagement on Food Interventions for Nutritional Effectiveness)
The REFINE site, designed and launched by a team of Friedman faculty, staff and students, provides a knowledge sharing mechanism to improve the quality of food aid products, policies, and processes. The site catalogs research activities surrounding food aid by documenting ongoing studies relevant to food aid policy and programming; collecting publications and making them easily available; and defining and tracking existing research gaps. Broad reach for food aid policy makers, programmers and researchers means that this effort will have a lasting impact on the food aid community. The REFINE website currently tracks 56 ongoing studies and has 282 publications in the REFINE library.
The Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Nutrition
Housed at the Friedman School, The USAID Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Nutrition's mission is to discover how integrated interventions in agriculture, nutrition and health can achieve large-scale improvements in maternal and child nutrition in Asia and Africa. FTFNIL enhances institutional and human research capacity around agriculture, health and nutrition in Africa and Asia through support for short courses and conferences, such as their annual scientific symposia in Nepal.
See Friedman at ICN
Project Team | Event Date | Event Time | Location | Type of Event | Title of Event | Faculty or Staff Members involved |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
IMMANA Fellowships | 10/15/2017 | 2pm | Room 2 - Libertador C | Symposium | Innovative Methods and Metrics for Agriculture and Nutrition Actions | Will Masters |
IANDA | 10/15/2017 | 2pm | Room 2 - Libertador C | Symposium | Innovative Methods and Metrics for Agriculture and Nutrition Actions | Will Masters |
Faculty | 10/15/2017 | 8:30am | Room 1 - San Telmo | Half Day Session | Leveraging Food Systems to Improve Food Systems and Nutrition | Patrick Webb, Eileen Kennedy |
INDDEX | 10/16/2017 | 8:00am | Touch Screen 8 | Poster Session | Getting the food list “right”: An approach for the development of a comprehensive food list for household food consumption surveys | Winnie Bell, Jennifer Coates, Beatrice L. Rogers, Odilia I. Bermudez |
FAQR | 10/16/2017 | 11:30am | Room 2 - Libertador C | Symposium | Addressing child malnutrition: newer measures to advance prevention and treatment outcomes | Irwin Rosenberg, Susan Roberts |
FAQR | 10/16/2017 | 8am | Touch Screen 6 | Poster Session | Research Methods Used to Determine Cost-Effectiveness of a Supplementary Feeding Trial to Prevent Child Undernutrition in Burkina Faso | |
FAQR | 10/16/2017 | 8am | Touch Screen 7 | Poster Session | Methods for rigorous in-home observation conducted during a food aid cost-effectiveness trial in Burkina Faso | |
Faculty | 10/16/2017 | 11:30am | Room 12 - Atalaya | Symposium | Transition food systems and shifting diets in low- and middle-income countries: What do they look like now, and where are they headed? | Eileen Kennedy |
Staff | 10/16/2017 | 3pm | TBA | Assessing the value of eating patterns as markers of diet quality in a resource-constrained setting. | Corey O'Hara | |
FAQR | 10/17/2017 | 11:30am | Touch Screen 1 | Poster Session | Changes in household food insecurity between enrollment and exit from a blanket supplementary feeding program for children 6 - 23 months old in Burkina Faso | |
NIL | 10/17/2017 | 3pm | Retiro C | Symposium | Crop production and livestock production diversity are positively associated with dietary diversity in rural Ugandan women and children aged 6-59 months | Shibani Ghosh, Nassul Kabunga |
NIL | 10/17/2017 | 8am | Touch Screen 13 | Poster Session | Assessing the relationship between household water quality and environmental enteric dysfunction in children living in southwestern Uganda | Jacqueline Lauer |
NIL | 10/17/2017 | 8am | Touch Screen 12 | Poster Session | Estimating gestational age using Last Menstrual Period (LMP) as Symphysis Fundal Height (SFH) measures rather than Obstetric ultrasound examination: a test of methods for use in low income settings | Robin Shrestha |
Faculty | 10/17/2017 | 5pm | Room 9 - Retiro A | Symposium | Is there a Role for Dietary/Food Supplements in Nutrition and Health? | Jeffrey Blumberg |
Individual | 10/17/2017 | 8am | Touch Screen 13 | TBA | Assessing the relationship between household water quality and environmental enteric dysfunction (EED) in young children living in southwestern Uganda | |
HNRCA | 10/17/2017 | 5pm | TBA | TBA | Framing the Issues: Is there a role for dietary/food supplements in nutrition and health? | Jeffrey Blumberg, Johanna Dwyer |
Staff | 10/17/17 | 12:20PM | Touch Screen 6 | TBA | Mortality attributable to overweight and obesity in Paraguay, period 2010-2014 | Gabi Centurion |
NIL | 10/17/2017 | 3pm | Retiro C | TBA | Food or Water for sanitation: explaining regional differences in child malnutrition rates in Uganda | Shibani Ghosh, Nassul Kabunga |
FAQR | 10/18/2017 | 8am | Room 7 - Retiro C | Symposium | Food Aid Research: Update on Food Aid for Preventing and Treating Undernutrition | Beatrice Rogers |
INDDEX | 10/18/2017 | 3:30pm | Touch Screen 4 | Poster Session | Jennifer Coates, Brooke Colaiezzi, Winnie Bell, Sarah Wafa, Cathleen Prata, Zachary Gersten, Jerome Some, Beatrice L. Rogers | Beatrice Rogers |
NIL | 10/19/2017 | 12:30pm | Touch Screen 3 | Poster Session | Maternal Aflatoxin levels in pregnancy and low birth weight prevalence in Banke, Nepal | Johanna Andrews-Trevino |
NIL | TBA | TBA | TBA | TBA | Greater improvements in child growth and diet quality after a holistic community development intervention than after nutrition training alone | Laurie Miller |
NIL | TBA | TBA | TBA | TBA | Stunting and overweight in rural households of southwest and northern Uganda | Shibani Ghosh |
NIL | TBA | TBA | TBA | Symposium | Determining the true prevalence of inadequate protein intake among infants and young children and its implications | Shibani Ghosh |
NIL | TBA | TBA | TBA | Poster Session | Cattle Ownership, childhood malaria and anemia in Uganda | Nassul Kabunga |
INF | TBA | TBA | TBA | Poster Session | A macro and micronutrient fortified complementary food supplement enhances plasma branched-chain amino acid levels in Ghanaian infants | Shibani Ghosh |