This year, A4NH’s lead center, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), celebrates an exciting milestone: 40 years of research towards reducing poverty and ending hunger and malnutrition.In honor of the occasion, IFPRI hosted a special event in Washington, DC on November 18th, “IFPRI at 40: Looking Back, Looking Forward,” which included discussion on how food policy has evolved until now and where to go from here.
A4NH director, John McDermott, shared his insights on the intersection of agriculture, nutrition, and health in a guest-blog post as part of IFPRI’s 40th anniversary blog series, guiding us through his path from epidemiology to a food systems approach that recognize's agriculture's potential to do much more to improve people's diets, nutrition, and health.
Also in honor of its 40th, IFPRI compiled a series of 12 ‘Making a Difference through Food Policy Research’ stories, including one featuring A4NH's work, entitled, Making agriculture work for nutrition (PDF 278KB).
The 40th anniversary event also marked the official launch of a new global initiative led by IFPRI, Compact2025, which brings together countries in their commitments to end hunger and undernutrition by 2025. Through Compact2025, IFPRI and its partners will to this global challenge. A newly launched Compact2025 website will serve as the platform for sharing evidence, data, and innovation on food policy with policymakers and practitioners, and a Knowledge and Innovation (K&I) Hub will serve as a space to experiment with new, innovative ways to advance food security and nutrition. So far, four focal countries—Rwanda, Ethiopia, Malawi, and Bangladesh—have already joined Compact2025, signaling their commitment to rapidly end hunger and undernutrition.
Once again, A4NH congratulates IFPRI on 40 years of excellence. Here’s to another 40 productive years ahead!
