2013 Symposium

The Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Nutrition, in conjunction, with our partner, Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health, and in collaboration with the Department of Community Medicine and Public Health, the Institute of Medicine, the Nepali Technical Assistance Group, & the Nepal Agricultural Research Councilhosted the 2nd Annual Scientific Symposium held in Kathmandu, Nepal on August 13-14, 2013.  The aim of the symposium was to share, understand and assimilate country level evidence on the factors that contribute towards the understanding of the pathways of agriculture to nutrition. There was an added focus on market linkages, sustainable agriculture, innovations in agriculture and livestock adaptation to promote nutrition; and implementation research on programs that seek to improve nutrition through a multi-sectoral approach.

Featuring 15 oral and 11 poster presentations, the two day meeting was attended by approximately 250 participants who represented researchers, field practitioners, government policymakers, donors (including the USAID mission) and 40 students from various Nepali institutions of higher education.

The symposium included two keynote addresses discussing the 2013 Lancet Series on Nutrition and the role of Aflatoxin in growth suppression, a session on multi-sectoral nutrition research and implementation, three sessions addressing research findings on different components of the agriculture to nutrition pathway (agriculture to market, market to home and home to nutrition outcomes), a presentation on the analysis of the large scale survey – the National Living Standards Survey (NLSS); the use of proteomics to assess micronutrient status; a poster presentation session; and high-level policy discussions.