The African Food System and its Interactions with Health and Nutrition

Sub-Saharan Africa is facing some of the highest mortality rates in the world as a result of disease and starvation, which is why on Nov. 15 Cornell hosted a conference on the African food system, health and nutrition, bringing together researchers and policy analysts to address the issues.

It was preceded on Nov. 13 by a twin event, co-sponsored by Cornell, at the United Nations in New York City. It was one of five events on Africa that Cornell and the United Nations University have jointly planned for 2007-08.

"Universities have a significant ability to address global inequalities, and
they will make their greatest contributions by focusing on the development of
human capacity," said Cornell President David Skorton, addressing the New York
City group.

The Cornell campus event, "African Food System and Its Interaction with Health and Nutrition Symposium," examined why Africa is lagging in efforts to achieve the U.N.'s 1990 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to halve the number of people in the world living with hunger and extreme poverty by 2015. More Africans suffer from these problems today than when the MDG period began in 1990, and the trend continues to worsen, conference organizers stressed.
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