The Governments of Canada and Bangladesh, in partnership with the Government of Japan, today hosted a virtual launch of the Nutrition for Growth Year of Action, setting in motion a year-long effort to address a global hunger and nutrition crisis that has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) launched today "Food Systems for Children and Adolescents", a special issue of the international journal Global Food Security. This special collection of 11 articles calls for an urgent transformation of food systems that work for and with children.
In a time of many seemingly insurmountable challenges, there is something that we can fix. One thing, which if changed could simultaneously accelerate the end of hunger, ensure everyone has access to a healthy diet, dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions, reverse biodiversity loss, and make societies and economies more equitable and resistant to devastating pandemics such as COVID-19.
The Second Global Summit on Food Fortification Virtual Series will kick off today November 6th with a high-level launch event as part of the Micronutrient Forum Global Conference CONNECTED. This year’s Summit will gather thousands of experts on food fortification, staple crop biofortification, food systems, and nutrition. Due to COVID-19 the Summit will go fully digital.
Today, the World Food Programme (WFP) was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for its efforts to combat a surge in global hunger amid the coronavirus pandemic. To congratulate on the award, Lawrence Haddad, GAIN Executive Director, sent the following message to David Beasley, Executive Director of the World Food Programme.
As the COVID-19 pandemic shifts into its second phase, food fortification has never been so necessary in the fight against malnutrition, according to a call to action endorsed by Food Fortification Initiative, Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition, Helen Keller International, Iodine Global Network, Nutrition International, the Scaling Up Nutrition Movement, UNICEF and the World Food Programme.
With a year to go, the Summit will offer a platform like no other to bring together key players from the worlds of government, science, business, policy, and academia, as well as farmers, indigenous people, youth organisations, consumer groups, environmental activists, and other key stakeholders.
Today the United Nations Special Envoy, Agnes Kalibata, announced experts across the fields of food, agriculture, health and climate change who have committed to advance solutions to make food systems more resilient and inclusive through the UN Food Systems Summit in 2021.
The COVID-19 crisis has demonstrated that humanity is placing too much pressure on the natural world and has laid bare profound inequalities in societies. Deforestation, wildlife trade and conversion of land for highly intensive and unsustainable agriculture and livestock production, are destroying ecosystems and increasing interactions between wildlife and humans, opening the door to infectious disease outbreaks.
New estimates show that the COVID-19 pandemic will lead to widespread increases in malnutrition due to disruptions in food, health and social protection systems. Lockdown measures are disrupting the production, transportation, and sale of nutritious, fresh and affordable foods, forcing millions of families to rely on nutrient-poor alternatives.
