AFRICA: Initiative to strengthen nutrition research

A project to develop a new and sustainable nutrition research agenda for Sub-Saharan Africa has been launched, involving four African and five European institutions. SUNRAY - Sustainable Nutrition Research for Africa in the Years to come - will use research as a weapon against deep and continuing malnutrition in the region.

The African universities are Abomey-Calavi in Benin, North-West in South Africa, Sokoine in Tanzania and Makerere in Uganda. The International Foundation for Science in Sweden, Wageningen University in The Netherlands, the Institute of Development Research in France and Intermon Oxfam in Spain are among the European institutions involved.

SUNRAY, which kicked off in January under the EU's Seventh Framework Programme, argues that despite the huge cost of malnutrition, investment in the nutrition sector has been insufficient. However, there has been renewed interest "and it is a potentially opportune moment for investing in nutrition research.

The programme will look at: the emergence of new nutritional challenges due to changes in the environment; integrating nutrition research with other sectors to ensure sustainable solutions; research opportunities and constraints in African institutions; greater stakeholder involvement; and ensuring political buy-in and action from policy-makers.

Professor Patrick Kolsteren, the general coordinator based at the Prince Leopold Institute of Tropical Medicine in Belgium - the fifth European institution involved - said future research needs for malnutrition in Africa may vary from current research, resulting in a need for new conceptual thinking accompanied by innovative research methods.

"Linking research and action needs to be strengthened and for this a broad stakeholder viewpoint is needed," Kolsteren told University World News.

He said SUNRAY, which will run until December 2012, will tap into existing networks of researchers that include the African Nutrition Leadership Programme, the Federation of African Nutrition Societies, nutrition researchers and alumni networks.

Professor Annamarie Kruger, director of Africa Unit for Transdisciplinary Health Research at North-West University, who will coordinate a survey of stakeholders, said up to 70 interviews with stakeholders from a range of disciplines will be carried out and analysed to identify consensus for priority nutrition research options.

The stakeholder survey will be conducted by institutions in seven African countries: South Africa, Tanzania, Benin, Rwanda, Uganda, Mozambique and Togo.

The project aims to promote a more sustainable food-based strategy including the promotion and use of indigenous and traditional foods, said Kruger. "Unfortunately, several studies from all over Africa have shown a shift from traditional diets towards Westernised diets as result of food preparing techniques and absence of women in homes," she told University World News. Also, indigenous and traditional foods were considered as "poor people's food".

Kruger said the project will raise awareness about the urgent need for a revised nutrition agenda in Africa, through an online website, discussion forums, press releases and presentations during key international scientific meetings.

Dr Christopher Garimoi Orach, a senior lecturer in the school of public health at Makerere University, said understanding the needs of researchers and what motivates their work must also come out of the project.

Orach listed constraints to research in Africa as including lack of funding, sub-standard equipment and laboratories, and lack of internet connectivity and literature. He called on university leaders to prioritise research generally and the issue of nutrition in particular by addressing such problems.

Dr Fré Pepping from Wageningen University explained that the project will not unearth new research findings, but will make clear what research is being done, who is doing it, who the stakeholders are and where the gaps are in knowledge.

Pepping, who is organising regional workshops staggered over two years across Africa, said a strategy would be prepared for future research on malnutrition in Africa. "African countries could benefit from this roadmap and I expect donors to fund further research needs, as identified by the roadmap," Pepping told University World News.