Glimpse from the Scientific Symposium, Nepal

In the viewpoint of economic analyst, today's world can be divided into developed and developing countries with significant differences as in development of science and technology,'' shared by Prof. Dayananda Bajracharya, former vice-chancellor of Nepal Academy of Science and Technology(NAST). The key element holds with adequate scientific discussions to affect the positive change. And here are silver linings; scientific symposium organized by Nutrition Innovation Lab is one of them which brought scientists, policy makers and planners together in the common platform.

The symposium was the continuation of a first symposium which has been organized annually entitled ''Science and Policy for Health, Agriculture, Nutrition and Economic Growth” which was held  on 13-14 August, 2013 Kathmandu, Nepal and it was my golden opportunity to attend the event as a representative of YPARD. The event organized by USAID was supported by John Hopkins University (USA) and Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC). 

The symposium began with the keynote speech by Patrick Webb of the Tufts University on Lancet review: Nutrition Sensitive Intervention as welcome speech and Ms. Shanda Steimer, USAID Health Director with the concluding remarks in the opening session. The first day presentations were divided into the following three thematic sessions as Agriculture to Market, Market to Home Environment and Home to Nutrition.

The second day presentation was not divided into the particular thematic sessions but the presentations were made in the special topics of oral session, poster presentation and more with open discussion.

The perceptive presentations were aided by the elucidatory moderation. The constructive comments section enabled the participants to get clearer information about their queries. The illustrative poster presentation made the event more interesting. The ways of research patterns, trends of research and ways of descriptive presentations were invaluable gains for me. It was the first time for me to be in an environment where experts and students from the Agriculture and Health sector came together.

The symposium changes the perception about the agriculture career which is usually used to be negative in the Nepali society. The symposium stressed upon the more agricultural researches to provide the baselines for the other researches.

Focus of Symposium

Bill Gates’s saying that ''Nothing improves an economy as efficiently as Agriculture'' in a speech to the US senate, has been reemphasized through series of discussions here at the symposium. Agriculture sector development along with health and nutrition leads to economic growth. It is important to note that integrating science in national policy is a must to enhance the economic growth. The symposium insisted in the need of careful multi-sectorial research with institutional collaboration. It focused on the need of active delivery science, feasible and cost effective tailoring and also in the need of enough evidences to validate our research. It also stressed the need of descriptive and insightful papers. All those are the essential success factors.

The symposium provided the unique opportunity for networking. It aids in broadening my thinking perspective. It made me more mature in analyzing the issues. The symposium was successful in assimilating the evidences to shape the contextual pathways and feedbacks between agriculture and nutrition in the community.