On 23 January 2023 at Antropia in Driebergen-Zeist (the Netherlands) Dutch Academy of Nutritional Sciences (NAV) will hold the tenth public lecture in English. This year, the executive director of the Micronutrient forum, an international expert organisation, Saskia Osendrap, PhD will talk about the challenges of global food and nutrition security. 

The event is held also virtually which is free of cost. 

For those who attending physically in Driebergen-Zeist (NL) is free of charge if members of NAV and €15 for non-members.

The public lecture of Saskia Osendarp is entitled:

Nutrition in crisis:

Since 2020, crises have threatened global food and nutrition security. COVID-19, climate change, and conflicts. The iceberg is much bigger. Less visible is the rise in people who can’t afford a healthy diet with micronutrient-rich foods. Inflation makes nutritious foods unaffordable for many low-income consumers even in high-income countries. Preschoolers and pregnant women are vulnerable to micronutrient deficiencies because of this. Even in high-income countries, 56% of preschool children and 69% of women of reproductive age are micronutrient deficient. Billion women and children are affected. Early micronutrient deficiencies harm health and development for life. We have a strong evidence base on a suite of cost-effective interventions across food, health, and social protection systems, unlike other health or nutrition challenges. We need to learn more about interactions and trade-offs between these interventions, micronutrient status, and interrelated crises: climate change, pandemics, conflicts, and food price inflation. Some micronutrient interventions, like increasing animal food consumption, may improve micronutrient status but harm the climate. Climate change and extreme weather threaten micronutrient content of nutritious foods, reduce yields, and increase the risk of infectious diseases, increasing people’s need for micronutrients. These interactions show the need for more integrated solutions that put nutrition, specifically micronutrient nutrition, at the centre of our efforts to build resilience in a world of overlapping shocks and crises.