One special
feature of the 2012 Rio Congress is that Abrasco,
our Brazilian partner, is a public health
organisation with capacity in nutrition, and more
generally in food and nutrition policy and practice,
rather than a nutrition organisation with capacity
in public health. This will shape the nature of the
Congress.
Another factor that guided our Council is the
impressive track record of Abrasco in the
organisation and control of big congresses held in
Brazil. A number of Association members participated
and spoke at the Abrasco global congress on
epidemiology held in Porto Alegre in September 2008,
and the national congress on collective health held
in Recife in October-November 2009. They reported
that the energy, enthusiasm and efficiency evident
throughout these meetings was awesome. They also
reported that funds for both congresses came from
registration fees, supported by grants and other
material and practical support from publicly-funded
bodies, or else companies whose businesses had no
real or perceived conflict with public health. This
is Abrasco policy.
Our thanks to our Brazilian partners go above all to
Álvaro Matida, executive secretary of Abrasco, and
to Inês Rugani, chair of the Abrasco food and
nutrition working group. Information about our Rio
Congress will be posted on this site regularly from
now on.
This letter is about balance, and I am also prompted
to ponder ageism. In the spirit of Buddhism and
feminism, I once thought this term referred to the
veneration and celebration of old stagers. Now I see
it means the reverse: putting down and persecuting
people and groups because they are old.
As President of the Association, I can safely state
that we are not ageist. Indeed, sometimes I feel
that a bit of veneration is in order! One of our
correspondents from Brazil is the UK citizen
Geoffrey Cannon. As our Publications Secretary he
makes a big contribution to this site. In his
current blog/column he discloses that he is 70 this
month. Goodness me Geoffrey, whoever would have
believed it, you look so much younger, not a day
over 69 ha ha, so full of vigour and vim, etc etc...
There is a serious point here. The Association is
committed to balance, within the framework of its
aims, objectives and policies. What does ‘balance’
mean? Yes, one thing it means is the building of
capacity and the creation of opportunity. We want
Association members who are near the beginning of
their careers, to be working hard as contributors to
this website, and to become members of Council and
Association working groups. This month, as well as
the blog/column by Fabio Gomes from Brazil, we have
a new column, from Reginald Annan from Ghana.
Balance for us also refers to gender and geography.
We think we are doing pretty well here also. Yes, we
are expecting that our Council will in future
contain more members who are nationals of
lower-income countries and settings, or who are
living or working in such settings.
Equally important are other forms of balance, as
between public health and nutrition, and between the
various points of view on the nature, purpose and
mission of our work as professionals. Another and
more subtle balance concerns attitude. In her
profile posted in this issue, Harriet Kuhnlein, who
continues to do great work protecting the interests
of Indigenous Peoples all over the world, describes
herself as a ‘good news person’. On the other hand,
Geoffrey Cannon brings his original training as a
journalist and then as a campaigner, to his
conference presentations and his writing. My policy
is to let all voices sound. Public health nutrition
often is and needs to be contentious.
Yet another balance concerns energy and commitment.
A number of leading lights in the UN System Standing
Committee on Nutrition (SCN)’s civil society group,
are criticised for being ‘activists’. Maybe the term
is being used as a euphemism, but it seems to me
that we need fewer passivists and more activists.
Part of the job of the Association is to empower
people to engage, to be involved and committed,
perhaps at some cost to themselves. I well remember
the time in Australia when as a young activist I was
thrown into a police cell with 20 others for trying
to stop a native forest from being destroyed. Scary
stuff! But Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi tell us
that we have to fight for what we believe in, and
accept that this may well be a lifelong road.
Associations and football |
There again, a balanced life is not fixated on any
one topic, however important. Let’s not suppose that
public health nutrition is all there is to life.
It’s a means to the good life well led. For me this
includes football (soccer, for wretched countries in
which this is not a national game). In Geneva I miss
my wife and family. I also miss cheering on my
beloved Southampton Football Club. We have dropped
like a stone down and down from the top British
division, but have recently saved from extinction by
Markus Liebherr, a leading European industrialist.
Long may his tribe increase!
Wherever I travel in the world I so often find
common ground discussing football. My friend
Association founder member Ali Dhansay,
Vice-President of the South African Medical Research
Council, has got me tickets for the football World
Cup in South Africa in June. This is will be such a
great time for Africa. Having spent many months over
the last ten years in South Africa, experiencing its
changes, I am proud and excited. South Africa will
show the world how to organise a vast event in great
style. The noise will be amazing! More on this
later...
Barrie Margetts |