News Overview

Transformation of food systems is key to addressing malnutrition, non-communicable diseases, climate change and other global health challenges of the 21st century, according to a new research study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (Jan 2022). The study presents a synthesis of the 22nd Annual Harvard Nutrition Obesity Symposium held in June 2021 entitled ‘Global Food Systems and

The role of food crops as a conduit for transmission of antimicrobial resistance from soil and water to humans has not been widely studied. Contamination of food crops with antimicrobial-resistant pathogens presents an added foodborne risk to human health. A scoping review published in Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems (3 Feb 2022) consolidates the current state of knowledge on antimicrobial

The pig production sector in Rwanda is growing rapidly as a result of rising local and regional demand for pork. To better understand how the sector operates, a new study has analysed the country’s pig and pork value chains to map the various actors involved, the governance and sanitary risks and the potential impacts on food safety. The study, which

The CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH) published its 2020 annual report on activities and accomplishments from its five research flagships: food systems for healthier diets; biofortification; food safety; supporting policies, programs, and enabling action through research; and improving human health. Noting that the year 2020 was dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic, A4NH director John McDermott

The Tokyo Nutrition for Growth Summit 2021 took place on 7–8 December 2021. Ahead of the summit, on 2 December 2021, the International Institute for Environment and Development and the International Livestock Research Institute hosted a side event on the role of informal markets within future food systems. The purpose of the side event was to derive a set of principles to

International Open Access Week is an annual scholarly communication event that is marked globally during the last full week of October to raise awareness about open access publishing of research and scholarly outputs to enable their universal online accessibility. The theme of Open Access Week 2021 (25 to 31 Oct) is ‘It matters how we open knowledge: Building structural equity’.

The health impacts of climate change are getting worse, exposing communities around the world to greater risks of food and water insecurity, heatwaves and the spread of infectious diseases, according to a new report by the Lancet Countdown. The Lancet Countdown is an international, multidisciplinary collaboration of leading researchers from 43 academic institutions and United Nations agencies that independently monitors

Land rights remain a complex and ambiguous subject for the majority of people in sub-Saharan Africa. In Ethiopia, formal state laws assert that women have equal rights regarding land use and access. However, Ethiopia’s pastoral areas are often highly influenced by both religious and customary systems, under which women tend to have weaker land rights.