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Atlanta Summit on Global Health and Hunger: Progress and Enduring Challenges in Global Food and Nutrition Security
On 20 May 2013, the World Affairs Council of Atlanta and CARE USA joined with the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies to host the Atlanta Summit on Global Health and Hunger, an event inspired by the success of the 2012 Atlanta Summit on Global Health and Water. Over the course the daylong symposium, experts and opinion leaders from government, business, academia, and NGOs came together to look at progress and enduring challenges in global food and nutrition security and to craft solutions for global hunger and malnutrition.
June 27, 2013 - Last update: July 4, 2022
The Summit’s opening panel looked at the contributions of CDC, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and USAID. The panel (from left to right) consisted of the moderator J. Stephen Morrison, PhD, Senior Vice President, Global Health Policy Center, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS); Thomas R. Frieden, MD, MPH, Director, Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC); Mark Suzman, D.Phil, Managing Director for International Policy & Programs, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; and Tjada D’Oyen McKenna, Deputy Coordinator for Development, Feed the Future
On 20 May 2013, the World Affairs Council of Atlanta and CARE USA joined with the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies to host the Atlanta Summit on Global Health and Hunger, an event inspired by the success of the 2012 Atlanta Summit on Global Health and Water. Over the course the daylong symposium, experts and opinion leaders from government, business, academia, and NGOs came together to look at progress and enduring challenges in global food and nutrition security and to craft solutions for global hunger and malnutrition. This conversation extended online to the CARE Facebook page and the Twitter hashtag (#solutions2hunger), where a wide and diverse audience contributed their expertise.
Like last year’s event on global health and water, this year’s Summit was a recognition of Atlanta’s unique assets and legacy in global health and social justice, from its health institutions CDC, CARE, The Carter Center, the Task Force for Global Health, and others, to its world-class universities and businesses, who collectively have taken a leading role in addressing hunger and malnutrition around the world.
The Summit’s focus on global food and nutrition reflects a broader trend in Atlanta and across the international community. In recent years, food and nutrition insecurity have grown in visibility, significance, and political attention. Scientific research has repeatedly identified food and nutrition as key drivers of the health and well-being of the world’s most vulnerable populations. Today there is an increased focus on global food and agriculture in the G-8, the World Summit on Food Security, the United Nations’ Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) movement, the 1000 Days partnership, the Call to Action on Child Survival, and a wide range of national, international, and private sector programs. The Obama administration’s Feed the Future initiative, inaugurated in 2009, is coming of age as a dramatic investment of new resources, coordinated across ten U.S. government agencies. This is a moment of promise and opportunity.
The Summit introduced by a person video message from Dr. David Nabarro, who challenged the audience in the conference hall and the live stream to take a “whole of society” approach that includes, civil society, governments, donors, and business. Other speakers and panelists included: Senator Johnny Isakson (R-GA), CARE USA President & CEO Helene Gayle, CDC Director Tom Frieden, and Mark Suzman of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and representatives from Atlanta based companies, UPS, The Coca-Cola Company and ADGO. The luncheon keynote address was presented by Michael Robach, Vice President of Cargill.
Videos of the discussion can be found here ▶
