Even if Ethiopia has witnessed encouraging progress in reducing malnutrition, its baseline level remains too high. In order to make a significant step towards improvement, it is necessary to take into consideration every parameter, such as food accessibility, religion traditions, transportation innovation, agricultural progress, social inequalities, food traditions and education. Tesfaye Hailu, researcher in Food Science and Nutrition, is developing Food Based Dietary Guidelines for Ethiopia in collaboration with the Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI). According to him, food education is key to drive significant changes to Ethiopians’ dietary habits and, thereby, help reduce malnutrition. According to Abel, a nutrition scientist, “if we educate people it is possible to change. But the way to convey the message and to convince the community is very important.”

The “Eathopia” project I am conducting aims at communicating nutritional information to Ethiopian children (from the age of 6 to 14) and their mothers (heads of households). I have organized workshops with Ethiopian people from different socio-economic backgrounds to learn about the context of malnutrition, evaluate existing food knowledge and gather visual data. I have transformed the information gathered by designing an awareness campaign including a TV spot, street billboards and radio broadcasts which will serve as a basis for the Ethiopian government to convey Food Based Dietary Guidelines to Ethiopians. I have also edited books to make my researches accessible to scientists.