Document Detail


Achieving the goal of halving global hunger by 2015.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  16441939     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
The FAO World Food Summit (WFS) in 1996 set the goal of halving the numbers of the global population suffering hunger by the year 2015, which was later incorporated into the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG) that commit the international community to an expanded vision of development, and one that vigorously promotes human development as the key to sustaining social and economic progress in all countries. The two targets under the first MDG goal to eradicate poverty and hunger call for halving the proportion of individuals who suffer from poverty and from hunger by 2015. This commitment is another instance of the international community through the UN system yet again renewing its efforts and setting a target and a time frame to deal with the global problem of hunger, poverty and malnutrition. To date, the efforts to reduce global hunger in the developing world have fallen far short of the pace required to meet these targets. There has no doubt been some progress and several countries in the developing world have proved that success is possible. The economic and societal costs to developing countries of not taking decisive action, and thus failing to achieve a reduction in hunger and undernutrition, including micronutrient malnutrition costs, are that every year five million children lose their lives, 220 million disability-adjusted life years are lost as a result of childhood and maternal undernutrition and billions of dollars are lost in productivity and incomes in these countries. Alongside this perennial problem in developing societies are emerging new epidemics of diet-related diseases resulting from the profound demographic changes, urbanization and the economic transition that is transforming and globalizing the food systems in these countries. Thus, many developing countries are facing new and additional challenges of co-existing hunger alongside the emergence of other forms of malnutrition. Meeting the WFS and MDG targets of achieving the goal of halving global hunger is urgent, and the question that needs to be addressed is not whether the international community can achieve this goal in time but whether it can afford not to.
Authors:
Prakash Shetty
Related Documents :
1556759 - Lust, lack of desire, and paraphilias: some thoughts and possible connections.
18620459 - Assessing the impact of global price interdependencies.
12315989 - Temporary vs. permanent migration: a decision theoretical approach.
11099579 - A survey of perceived problems in orthodontic education in 23 european countries.
526609 - Problems in counseling the epileptic mother.
7935169 - Asylum and the protection of human rights.
20670409 - Community pharmacists' involvement in smoking cessation: familiarity and implementation...
9212909 - Morpholino antisense oligomers: design, preparation, and properties.
16283199 - Changes in hearing aid use over the past 20 years.
Publication Detail:
Type:  Lectures    
Journal Detail:
Title:  The Proceedings of the Nutrition Society     Volume:  65     ISSN:  0029-6651     ISO Abbreviation:  Proc Nutr Soc     Publication Date:  2006 Feb 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2006-01-30     Completed Date:  2006-05-22     Revised Date:  -    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  7505881     Medline TA:  Proc Nutr Soc     Country:  England    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  7-18     Citation Subset:  IM    
Affiliation:
Food and Nutrition Division, Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, Rome, Italy. psshetty@doctors.org.uk
Export Citation:
APA/MLA Format     Download EndNote     Download BibTex
MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Developing Countries
Food Supply*
Humans
Hunger*
International Cooperation
Malnutrition / epidemiology*,  prevention & control*
Poverty*
United Nations
World Health

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


Previous Document:  The ancestral human diet: what was it and should it be a paradigm for contemporary nutrition?
Next Document:  The fibre-folate debate in colo-rectal cancer.