The Food and Nutrition Summer Institute is an annual event generally held in the Washington D.C. area, coordinated by Dr. Ellen Harris, and sponsored by Federal agencies such as the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the United States Agency for International Development. This year's Institute, however, was held in Accra, Ghana, an appropriate venue in-keeping with the 2001 theme, Strengthening Agriculture and Health Interventions to Improve Nutrition in Africa.
Institute participants focused on ways to lend support to the African Nutrition Capacity Development Initiative. This initiative seeks to renew and strengthen the role of nutrition in any development agenda in Africa. It further recognizes the need to enhance capacity at multiple levels and focuses in the areas of nutrition advocacy, training, inter/intra-regional curricular development, research, leadership, and networking.
A research, teaching and outreach team of five Alabama A&M University (AAMU) faculty and Extension staff members participated in the institute. Dr. Donnie Cook, Extension health and nutrition specialist; Dr. Jannie Carter, state Extension program leader; Mrs. Ann Warren, associate professor/coordinator, nutrition and hospitality management; Dr. Johnson Kamalu, associate professor, nutrition and hospitality managment; and graduate student Ms. Adriane Langham comprised the team. Also in attendance was 1890 Research Director Dr. McAuthur Floyd.
Nutrition and health educators from across the continent, including East Africa, Southern Africa, West and Central Africa, shared information on the status of food security, food safety and health in their region. Paul Cotton, a nutrition scientist with the Community Nutrition Research Group, Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center, and the USDA's Agriculture Research Service, shared information on What We Eat in America. Also, Shirley Blakely, Food and Drug Administration, Department of Health and Human Services, presented on Food Safety in the U.S. Site visits were made to Accra's Public Health Clinic, the Food Research Institute and the University of Ghana. Interactive and roundtable discussions addressed the topic of Capacity Development and Linkages to West and Central Africa.
In addition, an open forum for Historically Black Colleges and Universities provided opportunities for representatives from AAMU, Prairie View A&M, Howard, Tuskegee, Virginia State, and South Carolina State University to make presentations on proposed research activities. The Alabama team presented on the Modification of Peanut-Based Foods Commonly Consumed in Africa to Increase Vitamin A Content. The AAMU team also plans to expand the proposal and pursue external funding and partnership initiatives for outreach opportunities on the continent of Africa.