To improve nutrition education for the general well-being of various age groups and sectors in Cambodia, SEAMEO RECFON and the National Institute of Public Health (NIPH) of Cambodia recommitted themselves to another 5 years of partnership after signing a Memorandum of Understanding on 22 November 2021.

The current partnership specifically aims to promote academic cooperation in food and nutrition and to complement the expertise and programs of both parties toward improving the nutritional status of under-five children and working communities in selected sites in Cambodia through research, capacity building, and knowledge materials development and exchange.

SEAMEO RECFON and NIPH entered into their first partnership in 2012 which focused on building the capacity of the latter’s teaching staff on various food and nutrition topics.   SEAMEO RECFON experts served as adjunct lecturers of NIPH in food safety, nutrition assessment, linear programming, and research methodology as well as helped develop the curriculum for the Master of Science Degree in Human Nutrition.  NIPH staff became training fellows of SEAMEO RECFON and completed specific post-graduate courses under the Master of Science in Community Nutrition study program of Universitas Indonesia.  This collaborative arrangement lasted until 2018.

In the next five years, SEAMEO RECFON and NIPH Cambodia will undertake four major collaborative activities.   These activities include the completion of the formulation and adoption of local specific food-based recommendation to address malnutrition problems among under-five children in selected communities in Cambodia under SEAMEO RECFON’s Early Childhood Care, Nutrition and Education (ECCNE) Program;  assessment of the nutritional profiles of NIPH staff and building their capacities to pilot the implementation of SEAMEO RECFON’s Nutrition Goes to the Workplace (NGTW) Program; curriculum review and revision of NIPH Master of Science in Human Nutrition Study Program, and  building the capacities of NIPH staff in establishing a nutrition laboratory.   Further, SEAMEO RECFON experts will continue to serve as external supervisors to NIPH students towards publishing manuscripts in international journals.

The MoU signing was held virtually with SEAMEO RECFON Director Prof. Dr. Muchtaruddin Mansyur and NIPH Director Dr. Chhea Chhorvann as signatories.