Ricardo Uauy drafts the Valparaiso Declaration (left). David Sanders inspires the alternative Rio Declaration (centre). What about family farmers (right)?

Access news story on the Valparaiso Declaration here
Access news story on the Rio Declarations here
Access WN eulogy for Wangari Maathai here
Access Claudio Schuftan column here
Access Geoffrey Cannon column here

This is another Latin American month for the Association and its members, as seen on our home page news stories. The Chilean government, masterminded by Ricardo Uauy (left, above) invited Pekka Puska, Carlos Monteiro, Philip James, Juan Rivera, Josep Tur and Geoffrey Cannon to testify to the need for equity and justice in food and nutrition policies. This summit immediately followed that held at the UN in New York in September. A common theme was the need for governments to take the lead and to regulate in the public interest. At left above, founder member Ricardo Uauy is drafting the Valparaiso Declaration on how to prevent obesity and other chronic diseases in Latin America, sitting beside Guido Girardi Lavin, president of the Chilean Senate.

Various Association members flew immediately from Chile to Brazil, to the World Conference on the Social Determinants of Health held in the Copacabana Fort, a splendid relic of empire, in Rio de Janeiro. Here, two Rio Declarations were agreed and circulated. The first, the official outcome of the conference, is available here. The second was produced by the People's Health Movement, two of whose most effective members are Association members David Sanders and Claudio Schuftan.

For those concerned with the privatisation of public health, and the creeping paralysis within the UN system, the star of the Rio conference was David Sanders. He accused transnational corporations of buying up land in impoverished African countries such as Ethiopia, to grow food for export to wealthy countries. He also accused the US and European countries of robbing skilled healthcare staff from impoverished countries. Such hot topics were not included in the official Declaration. As a member of the PHM observed, in the South everybody knows that policies are political. David Sanders's cool while impassioned statements were followed by the one standing ovation given at the Rio conference. Will governments, industry, and UN agencies, listen and learn?

The future is ours

Seva Khambadkone, Carolina Perez Ferrer, Elizabeth Okeke, Barbara Seed,
Marcela Reyes, Shweta Khandelwal: women members from five continents

What of the future? Who will succeed the greybeards, whose work for public health and for world nutrition is outlined above, and in this and our other issues past and future? One answer is in the pictures above, of Association members who are profiled this month.

It is often pointed out that conventionally, men do most of the talking about nutrition, while women do most of the work. Ricardo Uuay and other leading Association members are committed to the development of young leaders, many of whom are already making their mark at international and national level. The Association too, is committed to bringing in new members, especially people at an early stage in their careers, and people from less-resourced countries. At left above is Seva Khambadkone, who is a US citizen whose family is from India, and whose commitment to public health nutrition is expressed in her work with rural communities in Nicaragua. Next is Carolina Perez Ferrer who also has also worked with rural communities, in Mexico. Next is Elizabeth Chinwe Okeke, professor of public health nutrition at the University of Nigeria, who is part of Harriet Kuhnlein's global network of scientists and community leaders whose special commitment is to indigenous food systems and ways of life.

Barbara Seed is third from the right. She is now working in Kuwait. She is a Canadian citizen with experience in Brazil, Japan and Rwanda, convinced of the crucial importance of social and other fundamental determinants of food security. The second from right is Marcela Reyes, a physician now also a professor at INTA, University of Chile, who was present at the Valparaiso meeting last month, and spreading the word about our Rio2012 congress. On the right is Shweta Khandelwal, who is working with the Public Health Foundation of India, New Delhi, whose president is Srinath Reddy.

Our future looks bright.