Director Heather Danton represented USAID Advancing Nutrition at the 2018 Borlaug Dialogue International Symposium from October 17-19, 2018, in Des Moines, Iowa. Hosted by the World Food Prize Foundation, the Norman E. Borlaug International Symposium gathers more than 1,200 professionals from around the world each year to discuss global food security and nutrition. The theme for 2018, Rise to the Challenge, explored the efforts that will be needed to feed the 9.5 billion expected by 2050.

Danton also participated in a satellite event, “Improving Nutrition through Private Sector Engagement across Food Systems,” hosted by the Board for International Food and Agricultural Development. At the event, she moderated a panel on “Drivers for Private Sector Engagement Across the Supply Chain to Improve Diet Quality: The Role of Labeling, Marketing, Processing and Product Standards, and Policies that Encourage Greater Demand for and Accessibility to High-Quality Diets, Including Accountability and Transparency Systems.”

The panel discussed standards and policies needed to promote improved nutrition through private sector investment in Africa, how intra-Africa regional trade can help supplement national nutrition efforts, challenges and opportunities that come from working within a medium to small enterprise in the food processing area, and incentives or marketing efforts needed to improve brand recognition for nutrient-rich foods among rural consumers, among other topics.