For the primary time for the reason that Covid pandemic disruptions, vitamin and dietetic well being professionals from South Africa, Africa and additional afield shall be gathering in particular person in Somerset West for the 2023 Vitamin Congress. The three-day occasion, held from 18 to twenty April 2023 is co-hosted by NSSA (Vitamin Society of South Africa) and ADSA (Affiliation for Dietetics in South Africa).
The Congress supplies a significant platform for vitamin researchers, each up-and-coming and well-established, to share the newest findings and proposals throughout all fields of vitamin starting from public well being vitamin challenges to specialities equivalent to therapeutic vitamin.
Maria van der Merwe, president of ADSA (Affiliation for Dietetics in South Africa) says, “As a biennial occasion, we’ve not been in a position to host an in-person nationwide Vitamin Congress since 2018. A lot has modified previously 5 years, making the in-person 2023 Vitamin Congress not solely well timed but in addition a vital alternative to share experiences and new developments in order that we are able to collectively determine priorities for motion.”
“Advocacy for vitamin is one space the place larger collaboration and synergy can achieve floor for vitamin. On the well being system entrance, South Africa is within the means of implementing Nationwide Well being Insurance coverage, providing a vital alternative to make sure that vitamin is integrated in all service supply streams, from well being promotion to illness prevention, administration and remedy.”
“ADSA, as knowledgeable affiliation, is paying attention to the altering panorama for vitamin professionals. New methods of speaking, creating new ventures, numerous work alternatives and a brand new skilled class are all rising. We, subsequently, wish to additionally utilise the alternatives supplied by the 2023 Vitamin Congress to interact with the varied vary of vitamin professionals and practitioners to determine the wants of our professionals, to make sure that the skilled associations stay related in a altering world.”
Vitamin-related challenges in South Africa and Africa are advanced and spiralling. Undernutrition, which incorporates childhood stunting, coexists with rising charges of weight problems and chubby, not simply in the identical communities, however typically in the identical households. The pursuit of contemporary wholesome life is all too usually thwarted within the many communities that lack entry to nutritious meals in addition to protected areas conducive to every day bodily exercise. Easy wholesome vitamin in houses is negatively impacted by the highly effective advertising of the eating regimen, trend and sweetness, media and social media industries.
Based on Professor Corinna Walsh, the NSSA President, key vitamin challenges have to be addressed by broad collaboration and larger synergy between numerous practitioners within the vitamin discipline.
She says, “The best challenges demand a multidisciplinary strategy to deal with their deeper underlying causes. We will do way more if we transfer from working in silos to making use of a systems-thinking strategy. These challenges embrace the excessive prevalence of the triple burden of malnutrition, which incorporates under-nutrition, which is stunting and losing; chubby and weight problems; and hidden starvation which is micronutrient deficiency. When planning interventions, the social, financial, and environmental components that affect our well being can’t be ignored, and thus we have to have interaction specialists in these fields to deal with urgent vitamin challenges.”
Van der Merwe provides, “In the end, we require political, coverage and monetary dedication with the intention to flip the tide on the subject of the vitamin state of affairs within the nation. Right here we’ve a platform for studying and improvement, the place we are able to strategise, community and forge new partnerships to deal with the challenges and grasp the alternatives introduced. Whereas we’ve change into accustomed to on-line conferences, the chance to interact in particular person for 3 days supplies for extra in-depth discussions, not solely throughout formal displays but in addition throughout break time and on the workshops following the congress.”
The 2023 Vitamin Congress goals to focus on and share collaborative options to the numerous vitamin challenges skilled in Africa. Bringing vitamin and dietetic professionals collectively opens up alternatives to make a sustainable distinction by bringing options to scale throughout numerous communities.
Professor Walsh says, “The World Well being Organisation’s double-duty actions are an illustration of a coordinated strategy to the issue of malnutrition in Africa. These embrace interventions, programmes and insurance policies that would concurrently decrease the danger or burden of undernutrition, in addition to chubby and weight problems and their penalties.”
Van der Merwe concludes, “Vitamin training, from early childhood onwards, that’s consistent with our nationwide wholesome consuming tips, would permit for well-informed communities in a position to apply data when making meals selections and will result in a rise inthe demand for wholesome meals. This is able to, in fact additionally require meals that kind a part of a nutritious diet to be accessible, accessible, and reasonably priced to all, which is feasible when coverage choices impacting meals are taken with the well being and finest curiosity of the inhabitants as a major consideration.”
The 2023 Vitamin Congress theme, Synergy and Re-connection in a Numerous Vitamin World spotlight the necessity for financial, social and environmental components to be taken under consideration on the subject of options for Africa’s vitamin challenges.
2023 Vitamin Congress
18 to twenty April 2023
Lord Charles Resort, Somerset-West, Western Cape, South Africa!>
