The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | JULIUS BUSINGE | The office of the Prime Minister (OPM) together with the Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition will launch a new policy brief on Nov.13 entitled ‘preventing nutrition loss and waste across the food systems’.
This will be followed by a technical seminar that will run under the theme ‘positioning food systems to deliver healthy diets for all in Uganda’ on Wednesday.
The two events will take place at Speke Resort and Conference Centre Munyonyo, a few kilometers away from Kampala city centre.
According to the organisers, the seminar is developed alongside and in association with the NARO-MAK 2nd Joint Scientific Conference.
They say the seminar has been developed in response to a call from ministerial teams working in the area of nutrition policy development.
The seminar will support efforts by the government of Uganda geared towards achieving healthy diets for all.
Up to 30 participants will be drawn from the research community, key government ministries and other stakeholder organisations with a close interest in diet and nutrition in the context of food systems.
Despite the progress made in recent decades on food and nutrition security, stunting rates are quoted at 34%.
Experts in this field say that growing pressures on the food system from climate change, environmental degradation, urbanisation and population growth, are exacerbating the situation and driving levels of malnutrition upwards.
For example, overweight and obesity in women has increased to 28% and, the incidence of associated non-communicable diseases is rising inexorably.
Top government officials are expected to take lead in this important two-day event.
