Minata Samaté Cessouma on Africa’s Year of Nutrition

12 December 2022. MARTIN J. FORMAN MEMORIAL LECTURE My Reflections on Africa’s Year of Nutrition. by IFPRI

Main speaker: H.E. Minata Samaté Cessouma, 

H. E. Amb. Minata Samaté Cessouma is the Commissioner for Health, Humanitarian Affairs and Social Development, African Union (AU). She is a native of Burkina Faso with over thirty (30) years of experience in international relations, Diplomacy, Governance and peace and security, humanitarian and social affairs.

By declaring 2022 to be the Year of African Nutrition, the African Union signaled the overarching need to tackle malnutrition and increase the affordability of healthy diets for the African continent. As 2022 comes to a close—unfortunately marked by deteriorating nutritional security due to shocks from the Russia-Ukraine war—Commissioner Cessouma will reflect on the key outcomes and recommendations emerging from the Year of Nutrition and the strategy for implementing these at the pan-African and national level.

The annual lecture commemorates Martin J. Forman, who headed the Office of Nutrition at USAID for more than 20 years and made a significant impact on international nutrition.