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HORTICULTURE FOR HEALTH IN REVIEW

GlobalHort to Participate in African Union Side-event on Food and Nutrition

Published on 18^th Jul 2010

The summit side-event takes place July 24-26, 2010 in Kampala, Uganda.  The theme is "Africa must feed itself, no child should go to bed hungry - reduce stunting by 50% in the next five years and beyond"

International and regional consultative forums over the last five years have revealed a high political commitment and movement towards improving Food and Nutrition Security. Unfortunately, the high political commitment has not been adequately translated into action where it matters most to deliver the best nutrition interventions and improve the nutritional status and wellbeing of the people of African. Furthermore, the hunger and malnutrition situation has been exacerbated by the global financial, fuel and food crises in the recent past.

The renewed energy and commitment to tackle hunger and chronic malnutrition must, therefore, be optimally harnessed to make the double edged sword and scourge history. There is need to update all governments on the African continent on the new, proven and evidence based approaches that have led to good progress being made by some states in developing national capacities to design and implement sustainable nutrition programmes.To bring this renewed thinking to the fore, energy and actions, the Side

Event in Kampala on the margins of the AU Summit to raise awareness on the nutrition issues and galvanise support for the launch of the Africa Food and Nutrition Day, on a day to be decided with a view to stimulate better and coherent planning and implementation of proven nutrition strategies and interventions in all member states.

The event will focus on 4 major Sub-themes in line with the overall July 2010 AU Summit theme, as well as the African Nutrition Strategy and the CAADP Food and Nutrition Flagships programmes. The sub-themes include:

· Maternal and Child Nutrition and Health;

· Home-Grown School Feeding;

· Dietary Diversification; and

· Food Fortification and Bio-Fortification.

Furthermore, the event will address the softer, yet, critical issues of the nutrition architecture and systems to improve coordination across various sectors, management and delivery on the ground. It will also provide a golden opportunity to discuss how best countries can implement sustainable food and nutrition programmes grounded on national capacity development, ownership and leadership. To enhance the positive momentum that is likely to come out of the Kampala side event, it is therefore proposed further that the African Union Assembly take a decision to initiate an Africa Food and Nutrition Day (AFND), driven and owned by Africans. The main objective of the Day is to raise public awareness, mobilise support and get commitment from the respective national policymakers to integrate food, nutrition and healthcare security in Africa’s development agenda. The concept of having an Africa Food and Nutrition Side Event is a practical step to realise the earlier proposal by the African Task Force on Food and Nutrition Development (ATFFND) (chaired by the AUC). It is time to act.

Remi Kahane, Secretary GlobalHort, has been selected to be a discussant on the theme iii) on Dietary Diversity.

For more information [...]

Current Status of Fruits and Vegetables Production and Consumption in Francophone African Countries - Potential Impact on Health

Published on 31^st Oct 2009

J. Ganry, CIRAD, has recently published this article in Proc. IInd IS on Human Health Effects of F&V Acta Hort. 841, ISHS 2009 p. 249-255

This paper is a synthetic view of the situation of the production of fruits and vegetables and their availability for local consumption in francophone countries of Africa, in relation with some chronic diseases, such as diabetes and obesity. It is based on data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) and information collected through a survey made in each of the twenty francophone countries of Africa and Indian Ocean. The survey was in preparation of the workshop on “Promotion of fruits and vegetable for health in francophone African countries”, held in Yaounde, Cameroon, on 23-26th of October, in the framework of the FAO-WHO initiative.

There is a great diversity of situations related to the geographic position, the cultural traditions behaviour and economic situation. Very few countries are reaching the recommended intake of 400g of fruits and vegetables per capita and per day. These are humid-forest countries including Cameroon, Gabon, Guinea, Rwanda, and Burundi, where banana and plantains are the fruits most consumed. On the other side, the situation in Sahelian countries like Burkina-Faso, Chad, Mali, and Mauritania is even worse with an availability below one third of the critical level.

A first analysis of data from FAO and WHO is supporting the assumption of a relation between a low consumption of fruits and vegetable and a high prevalence of chronic diseases like diabetes and obesity in some conditions. (...full article)

PROFEL - Bulletin d'information will keep you Informed in Promoting Horticulture for Health in Africa

Published on 28^th Oct 2009

Le lancement de ce bulletin s’inscrit pleinement dans cette dynamique de communication dont l’objectif est de maintenir les liens entre les participants à l’atelier de Yaoundé, d’y associer le pays qui n’ont pas pu y être représentés et de sensibiliser l’ensemble des acteurs concernés par cette initiative à l’importance de la promotion des fruits et légumes pour la santé face aux enjeux de sécurité alimentaire, de santé publique et de lutte contre la pauvreté en Afrique sub-saharienne.

The communication objective of this newly launched newsletter has the clear intent to support links between the participants in the workshop of Yaoundé, to link it the countries that could not be represented and to sensitize all the actors concerned with this initiative relating to the importance of the promotion of fruits and vegetables for health faced with the issues of food security, public health and conflict against poverty in sub-Saharan Africa. 

Bulletin PROFEL en Afrique #5 Oct, 2009

Bulletin PROFEL en Afrique #4 Feb-Mr, 2009

Bulletin PROFEL en Afrique #3 Jan, 2009

Bulletin PROFEL en Afrique #2 Nov-Dec, 2008

Bulletin PROFEL en Afrique #1 Oct, 2008

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PROFEL Poster: Les Pays du Sud Feb, 2009

Promotion of Fruit and Vegetables consumption workshop - PROFAV - for the English-speaking countries of Africa: First framework draft July 21, 2008

Contact:

Christelle Monier

 Agro-Ecologue INRA/CIRAD

International and National Cooperation in Horticultural Science

CIRAD

TA B103/PS4

Boulevard de la Lironde

34398 Montpellier Cedex 5

Tel: +33 (0)467615800, demander le poste 5482

Fax : + 33 (0)467617564

christelle.monier@cirad.fr

Promotion de la consommation des fruits et légumes (PROFEL) / Promotion of the Consumption of Fruit and Vegetables (PROFAV)

Workshop on the Promotion of Fruit and Vegetables in Francophone Sub-Saharan Africa, October 23-25, 2007, Yaoundé, Cameroon

IRAD and CIRAD, on the initiative of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO), organized this workshop on the "Promotion of Fruit and Vegetables in Francophone Sub-Saharan Africa" (PROFEL) that was attended by 76 experts from 16 African countries, and many representatives of international organizations.  The conclusion was that horticultre, health and education must work together to mitigate poor nutrition and poverty in Africa.  GlobalHort offered to host further PROFEL information on its GlobalHort website and will provide further support in any way it can. At the meeting RADHort looked at the linkages between PROFEL and RADHort and suggestions were made pertaining to changes in its statutes and management. 

International Fruit and Vegetable Summit, May 27-30, 2008, Paris, France.

The first International Fruit and Vegetable Summit, was held in Paris with the support of EGEA♣ (planners of the International Conference of the Health Benefits of Fruit and Vegetables), IFAVA (the International Fruit and Vegetables Alliance), in relation with WHO (the World Health Organization), FAO (the Food and Agriculture Organization) and UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization).  The focus was on a global and multisectoral approach geared to increase fruit and vegetable consumption. For many years, there have been parallel efforts across sectors to increase fruit and vegetable consumption, with research and education campaigns by the public health and scientific communities and nongovernmental organizations on the one hand, and marketing campaigns by the fruit and vegetable industry on the other. Building upon the strength of the EGEA and IFAVA conferences and symposiums, this joint international conference gathered key stakeholders to capitalize on cross-sectoral expertise to find solutions to this important issue. (...More in English; More in French)

♣  A series of conferences organized with commercial sponsorship from Freshfel and Aprifel.  Egea refers to the first conference devised near the Egean (Aegean) Sea.

UPCOMING EVENTS

RESOURCES

Associations/Centers

Agence Fruits et Legumes Frais (APRIFEL)

Food and Agriculture Association of the United Nations (FAO)

Freshfel Europe

International Fruit and Vegetables Alliance (IFAVA)

International Society for Horticultural Science Commission on Fruits and Vegetables and Health

World Health Organization of the United Nations (WHO) 

Publications/Databases

Codex Alimentarius main purposes of this Programme are protecting health of the consumers and ensuring fair trade practices in the food trade, and promoting coordination of all food standards work undertaken by international governmental and non-governmental organizations

World Health Organization. Promotion of Fruit and Vegetable Consumption Around the World (PROFAV or PROFEL)

INFOODS goal is to stimulate and coordinate efforts to improve the quality and availability of food analysis data worldwide and to ensure that anyone anywhere would be able to obtain adequate and reliable food composition data