On January 17th 2018, following authorization by the Dean of the Faculty of sciences, a NOODLES one day workshop has been hosted at the Dept. Biochemistry and Biomedical sciences, University of Dschang, Cameroon. The workshop was chaired by the Head of the Dept. (Prof. Kuate), moderated by the Coordinator of the professional master in nutrition dietetic and public health (Prof. Zambou) and a senior lecturer at the department (Prof. Womeni). After presentation of the vision, mission, activities and projects of the NOODLES network, perspectives were discussed with the participants, 76 among Master 1, PhD, Master 2, and Lecturers. Research areas of interest in Cameroon (foods additives, supplements, standards, labeling etc) were identified as having high potential. Issues on foods standards and certification raised as well. NOODLES published papers and journal, and reports have been freely distributed to students and staffs.
Students from the newly launched Master program on “Nutrition, dietetics and nutrition education” expressed their desire to be part of NOODLES field activities. Past and ongoing project were presented: i) nutrition education project in primary schools, ii) food packaging and baby nutrition, the case of Bisphenol A baby bottles, iii) geophagy in pregnant women, etc. It was suggested to jointly carry out the nutrition education program in some schools of the city of Dschang. Few students were willing to have this concern as their Master thesis. It was agreed to explore possibilities to have one or two master students during their final master year (academic year 2018/2019) working on this.
After the inception workshop, a more sustainable collaboration was requested for student to get concrete experience from the field.
Jan 17th 2018