March 31, 2017 By
NORTH CANTON, Ohio. – University of Mississippi student attend the 12th Annual Universities Fighting World Hunger Summit and present new research on health and hunger in Mississippi to conference attendees.
Rachel Haggard, Sociology MA student, presenting work she is doing on the Mississippi Health & Hunger Atlas, a joint project with Dr. Cafer and the UM Center for Population Studies.
Rachel Haggard (MA) and Megan Stockton (BA), both students in sociology travelled to North Canton, Ohio, with Dr. Anne Cafer, to attend workshops on food insecurity, hunger, and advocacy. Rachel also present work she recently completed on the Mississippi Health and Hunger Atlas. The Mississippi Health and Hunger Atlas uses the best available public data to map and analyze patterns of hunger, food insecurity, and associated health outcomes at the county level across the state of Mississippi. The purpose is to inform community, regional, and statewide initiatives. The effort is led by Dr. Anne Cafer, and supported by the Center for Population Studies at the University of Mississippi.
The Universities Fighting World Hunger is a partnership between Auburn university and the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) to fight world hunger by producing university “graduates who are not only technically competent, but globally aware and socially engaged…” This organization also pushes universities to “assume a leadership role in creating innovative solutions to global sustainability issues like world hunger.” (UFWH 2017). Each college and university in the UFWH network plans its own agenda but are collective committed to creating awareness about both international and domestic issues around hunger.
Rachel Haggard, Megan Stockton, and Dr. Anne Cafer at the 12th Annual Universities Fighting World Hunger Summit.
Megan is leading the charge for University of Mississippi’s membership in the UFWH network and prioritizing student engagement with hunger issues on campus. As part of this initiative, students will also look to leadership to engage in issues of hunger and food insecurity which have big impacts on college students.
As a result of participation in this conference, both Megan and Rachel are committed to organizing a “Hunger and Homelessness” week here on campus in November. This week of awareness will also work to drum up student excitement in the organization and kickstart dialogue about University of Mississippi’s role in fighting hunger in the state, as well as globally.
For more information on UFWH visit: http://wp.auburn.edu/ufwh/about/
