The needs and opportunities to address Africa’s problems of poverty and health are unprecedented. Science and technology based organisations worldwide, as well as the civil society and international agencies, are intensifying their efforts to achieve meaningful community development in the region.
Prof Jane Morris of the ACGT and Prof Andre Oelofse, Director of the Centre for Nutrition at the University of Pretoria, met with Prof Andrew Collins, Professor of Nutrition Biology at the University of Oslo in Norway in October this year, to discuss the submission of a proposal to the European Union 6th Framework Programme for training and capacity building. The focus of the proposal will be on nutritional genetics, genomics and bioinformatics.
The opportunities to link cutting edge genomics techniques to solve problems related to malnutrition in Africa were also discussed and it was agreed that there were significant opportunities for collaboration.
An international nutrition congress is to be held in South Africa in September next year and will include a focus on nutrigenomics. See www.puk.ac.za/fakulteite/voeding/iuns for details.