IUNS Council

IUNS Adhering Body the Polish Academy of Sciences supports Ukrainian war-stricken scientists.

We are pleased to share with our members the impressive result of our friendly cooperation with our Adhering Body from Poland.

At the beginning of last spring (March 2022), we received a letter from the Polish Academy of Sciences regarding their humanitarian action to support Ukrainian scientists whose professional life and education have been affected by the war in Ukraine.

They launched a 3-month program for 50 Ukrainian researchers to cover their travel and stay expenses in Poland.

For this reason, they asked IUNS to waive their annual dues as a member of IUNS in order to participate and contribute to the budget intended to support Ukrainian researchers.

one of the IUNS missions is “To promote advancement in nutrition science, research and development through international cooperation at the global level.”

And we deeply believe that research and development will not be possible unless all our colleagues are in safe conditions. For this reason, we agreed to this request, thanking the Polish Academy of Sciences for their actions and for, giving us this opportunity to have a small share in their humanitarian efforts.

In less than a year, right at the beginning of the winter of 2023, we received a message from them that they managed to expand their program and have hosted a total of 192 Ukrainians fellows for up to 10 months; of these numbers, 84% of the fellows were women which makes their programs one of the most notable endeavours also in this respect. 

Throughout the year, they organized 9 training opportunities in English and Ukrainian addressed to Ukrainian scientists. In total, nearly 600 participants attended these workshops. 

 IUNS wish that the war does not stop the progress and development of research in any part of the world.

Announcement: IUNS Council elected

The General Assembly of IUNS took place during the IUNS-ICN Tokyo, Japan in December 2022. We are pleased to announce the newly elected Council as:

  • President: Dr Lynnette Neufeld, Canada
  • President-Elect: Professor Hyun-Sook Kim, South Korea
  • Vice-President: Professor Francis Zotor, Ghana
  • Secretary-General: Professor Jacques Delarue, France
  • Treasurer: Dr Welma Stonehouse, Australia

Council members:

  • Professor Ali Dhansay, South Africa
  • Professor Barbara Burlingame, New Zealand
  • Professor Edith Feskens, Netherlands
  • Dr Rubina Hakeem, Pakistan
  • Professor Sergio Paiva, Brazil
  • Professor Zhaoping Li, USA

The whole Council would like to thank the Adhering Bodies for the nominations and for appointing them to these positions, and the previous IUNS Council members for their service and continual support. The first meeting of the new Council will take place in early 2023.

IUNS at Nutrition for Growth Summit

“We must work together to identify & develop evidence-based policies & to build capacity to create the nutrition leaders for tomorrow. Together, we can enable & lead new ways to address entrenched problems to meet the global nutrition goals,”

Dr Anna Lartey on behalf of IUNS, at Nutrition for Growth 2021

Immediate past president of IUNS, Dr Anna Lartey, delivered a statement to the Nutrition for Growth Summit 2021 livestreamed from Tokyo, Japan. The Summit took place over two days, December 7 and December 8, 2021.

Nutrition for Growth (N4G) is the global opportunity for leaders to invest in nutrition as part of a COVID-19 recovery and beyond, and to ensure that nutrition remains a priority on the global agenda.

Country governments, donors, philanthropies, international organizations, businesses, civil society organizations, academia and beyond came together to discuss accelerating progress to achieve the global nutrition targets and to end malnutrition in all its forms.

The Summit featured two-days of data-driven financial, policy, programmatic, or impact commitments from all stakeholders, aligned with the thematic pillars of this year’s N4G summit: universal health coverage, resilience, and healthy diets, and underpinned within the lenses of nutrition financing and accountability.

Following the summit, Government and private sector donors have pledged more than US$27 billion at the Tokyo Nutrition for Growth (N4G) Summit this week to address the global malnutrition and hunger crisis. Represented by five Heads of State and Government, 45 countries with high burdens of malnutrition and a dozen donors delivered renewed policy and financial commitments to end malnutrition. These commitments demonstrate country leadership and prioritization of nutrition at a crucial time, as fiscal resources are constrained, and malnutrition rates are on the rise due to the continuing global COVID-19 pandemic.

You can read more on the outcomes of the summit via the post summit press release here:

Image by congerdesign from Pixabay

IUNS at Conxemar – FAO Congress

The importance of including omega-3 fatty acids in the diet is an important factor in disease prevention and can  prevent  alterations in genomic expression.  J Alfredo Martinez, IUNS President, recently  presented “Prevention of alterations in genomic expression: the importance of fish in diets” at this year’s joint Conxemar-FAO Congress.

Conxemar, the Spanish Association of Wholesalers, Importers, Manufacturers and Exporters of fish products and Aquaculture, in collaboration with FAO, held the ninth edition of its congress in Vigo, Spain, with focus on the role of fish in nutrition and food systems on October 4, 2021.

You can learn more about the event and view the presentations here.

ICD2021 Virtual Congress

The International Congress of Dietetics (ICD2021) virtual congress ran from 1 to 3 September 2021 and as reported by IUNS Council member, Professor Ali Dhansay, was a great success. Approximately 800 delegates attended this IUNS sponsored event. Professor Dhansay, served as a member of the Local Organising Committee, representing the NSSA (Nutrition Society of South Africa) together with Dr Elize Symington (chair of NSSA). The NSSA partnered with ADSA (Association for Dietetics in South Africa) to host the congress – both organizations are contributing members of the South African National Committee for IUNS.  The ICD falls under the International Confederation of Dietetic Associations (ICDA), which is an Affiliated Body to IUNS.

IUNS Newsletter September 2016

The IUNS Newsletter September 2016 is now available to download and read online.

This months newsletter includes an update on the revised IUNS Statutes and Rules and a piece on the United Nations Decade of Action on Nutrition by IUNS President, Professor Anna Lartey.

To access the newsletter please click on the links above.