14th EUROPEAN NUTRITION CONFERENCE FENS 2023, BELGRADE SERBIA
14th EUROPEAN NUTRITION CONFERENCE FENS 2023, BELGRADE SERBIA
Prof. Igor Spiroski is medical doctor and holds PhD degree in public health. He is heading the Department of Nutrition at the National Institute of Public Health. His complementary work includes professorship and research at the Faculty of Medicine of the Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje. Prof. Spiroski’s main professional fields of interest are assessment of health risks related to nutrition, particularly obesity and nutritional intake and status of populations of interest. He has authored and co-authored books, book chapters, peer reviewed papers, conference proceedings and brochures. He is WHO’s National NCDs and Nutrition Focal point. He is Principal Investigator of the WHO’s European Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative (COSI) and EFSA’s EU Menu projects in North Macedonia.
Graduated as general medical practicionar, got master degree and Ph disertation in the field of clinical nutrition and specialization in hygiene at Medical Faculty, University of Belgrade. Retired as a Head of the Department for Nutrition and Food Safety within the Institute of Public Health of the Province of Vojvodina and as a professor in hygiene, nutrition and public health within Medical Facultyof the University of Novi Sad; acted as a national counterpart for nutrition with WHO, chaired/participated in working groups for harmonization of the food safety legislation with EU (Food law, dietetics products safety, microbiological criteria for food safety control, food labelling, nutritional and health claims etc); acted as a national coordinator of the UNICEF/ICCIDD programe on iodine deficiency disorders elimination and as a national coordinator of the WHO project Stranghtening Food and Nutrition Services in Southeast Eurpean Countries; coordinated the programme for sodium control in meals in kindergartens in the Province Vojvodina; has been acting as a president of the Serbian Nutrition Society since 2017.
Public health challenges in the Western Balkans were driven by turbulent events in the region throughout times. Sometimes those challenges were in accordance with the pan-European ones, as the recovery and improvement after the WWII, and sometimes occurred due to specific circumstances like the social turmoil that existed in this region during 1990s. As nutrition transition usually stands side by side with the social circumstances, it is important to present a state-of-art nutrition-related public health challenges of the countries from this region.