BCFN Award Recognizes Young Food System Researchers [10.12.17]

This year, two teams were selected for the award. Joana Abou Rizk (University of Hohenheim, Germany) from Lebanon and Jeremias Theresa (University of Hohenheim, Germany) from Germany won for their project Maternal and Child Nutrition Among Refugees and Host Communities in Greater Beirut.

The Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition (BCFN) announced the winners of the 2017 Young Earth Solutions (YES!) competition, which inspires young researchers under 35 to conduct innovative studies to meet global research needs on the sustainability of food systems. This year, two teams were selected for the award.

Joana Abou Rizk (University of Hohenheim, Germany) from Lebanon and Jeremias Theresa (University of Hohenheim, Germany) from Germany won for their project Maternal and Child Nutrition Among Refugees and Host Communities in Greater Beirut, Lebanon: A Focus on Anemia.

The first 1,000 days of life are the most impactful in a child’s development. Access to adequate amounts of nutritious food is a growing concern in Lebanon, which has the highest per capita concentration of refugees in the world. The project studies mother/child pairs of Syrian refugees and Lebanese host communities to determine the underlying causes of anemia in these populations and uses sustainable nutrition education to improve maternal and child nutrition.

“A great path to sustainably rebuild post-crisis Syria and improve the nutrition situation in Lebanon is by raising healthy generations from early life,” say Rizk and Theresa.