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Global corporate giants join forces with UN food agency to end hunger

Global corporate giants join forces with UN food agency to end hunger

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A group of leading multi-national companies have joined a United Nations scheme in a bid to end hunger and malnutrition among children in developing countries, the World Food Programme (WFP) announced today.

A group of leading multi-national companies have joined a United Nations scheme in a bid to end hunger and malnutrition among children in developing countries, the World Food Programme (WFP) announced today.

The groundbreaking multi-million-dollar Project Laser Beam programme harnesses the financial, technological, production and managerial expertise of big business with the know-how of WFP to fight global hunger, which kills more people every year than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined.

“With the numbers of hungry going up, we need the private sector to join us in the fight,” said WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran.

“It’s a battle that’s too big for any one player but together we can find new ways to radically reduce malnutrition,” she added.

WFP expects to raise $50 million over the course of the five-year initiative from its Project Laser Beam private sector partners: DSM, Heinz, Kraft Foods, Unilever and the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), as well as other companies.

Hunger and malnutrition combined are the number one risk to health worldwide, WFP said in a news release, stressing that undernourishment can stunt growth, sap energy, and slow thinking.

At the launch in New York, Ms. Sheeran called on other prospective partners in both the public and private sectors to join the anti-hunger initiative.