La Caixa

Drought, floods, civil wars, diseases such as AIDS, bad management of grain reserves, socioeconomic destructuring, lack of access to food: those of some of the factors which have brought Africa to the brink of a disaster. Almost forty million people are affected by the food crisis which is devastating the African continent. The worst affected regions are the south, the west, the centre and the Horn of Africa.

According to the FAO (the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation) there are 25 countries in Africa with food emergencies. Among them are: Angola, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Sudan, Uganda and Zambia.

To analyse the current situation and prospects for this serious food shortage, on 11 March ”la Caixa” Foundation is organising the round table ‘Food Crisis in Africa’, in which representatives of development NGOs working in the zone will be taking part: Amador Gómez, technical director for health and nutrition for Acció contra la Fam; Juan Morello, international cooperation manager for Africa for Cáritas Española; Jaime Durán, international cooperation manager for Africa for the Spanish Red Cross; Miguel Ángel Herrero, coordinator for the Ethiopia and Sudan area for Intermón Oxfam; Enric Duran, expert in nutrition for Doctors Without Borders; and Julio Cámara, ocular project manager in Tigray (Ethiopia) for Projecte Visió. The event will be chaired by Àngels Mataró, director of the United Nations Association in Spain (ANUE).

Short CV for the participants

Amador Gómez
Technical director for health and nutrition for the NGO Acció contra la Fam. He has worked on projects in Guinea Conakry, Nicaragua and Angola. He holds a diploma in nursing and is an expert on the design and planning of health cooperation programmes.

Juan Morello
Doctor in Sociology, Juan Morell is the head of Cáritas Española in Africa and the Middle East.

Jaime Durán
International cooperation manager for Africa for the Spanish Red Cross. An Economics graduate from Seville University, he holds a diploma in Social Sciences from Portsmouth University (England). He has also studied international trade and politics.

Miguel Ángel Herrero
Coordinator for the Ethiopia and Sudan area for Intermón Oxfam. He was worked on projects in Bolivia, Tanzania and Mozambique. Since 2000 he has taken part in the management of three humanitarian crises: two droughts in Ethiopia and the earthquake in Gujarat, India.

Enric Duran
Medical manager for projects in sub-Saharan Africa for Doctors Without Borders. He is a graduate in Medicine and Surgery from Barcelona Autonomous University and an expert in tropical medicine. Until August 2001 he worked as technical consultant on the National Onchocerciasis Control Programme for the Ministry of Health in Equatorial Guinea. He has also worked in hospitals in Cameroon, Mauritania and at the Tropical Diseases Unit of the Institut Català de la Salut.

Julio Cámara
Ocular Project manager in Tigray, Ethiopia, for the development NGO Projecte Visió. Doctor in Medicine from Barcelona University and professor of Ophthalmology at Germans Trias i Pujol University Hospital in Badalona.

Round table: Food crisis in Africa
Tuesday 11 March at 19.00
CaixaForum. Av. Marquès de Comillas 6-8. Barcelona
Admission is free but previous enrolment is
required: 902 22 30 40