nutrition

A farming family in Kyrgyzstan takes a break from the day's work to share a meal.
Sergey Kozmin

One in three people suffers malnutrition at global cost of $3.5 trillion a year – UN

1 December 2016
As an United Nations international meeting on ways to improve diets and ensure sustainable food systems kicked off in Rome, Italy today, participants were told that one in three people on the planet suffers some form of malnutrition, impacting public health and economic development at an estimated cost of $3.5 trillion per year.
WFP Executive Director Ertharin Cousin (right) talks to a student at Park Chim school in Luang Prabang Province, Laos.
WFP/Silke Buhr

In Lao PDR, UN food relief agency chief reiterates support for efforts to ensure nutrition security for all

1 December 2016
The Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Program (WFP), Ertharin Cousin, has wrapped up a visit in Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), where she reiterated the agency’s commitment to working with the Government to help the country achieve middle-income status and to support food and nutrition security for all.
UNICEF Regional Goodwill Ambassador and film actor and director Aamir Khan (centre) in Bhutan to help advocate against malnutrition.
UNICEFROSA/2016/PBrown

In Bhutan, UNICEF Regional Goodwill Ambassador Aamir Khan spotlights battle against malnutrition

19 October 2016
After a visit to Bhutan yesterday, actor and director Aamir Khan, a UNICEF Regional Goodwill Ambassador, praised the country’s progress to end malnutrition and recognized young mothers’ efforts to safeguard their children’s health despite high levels of stunting.
An abundant lettuce crop in Serbia.
FAO/Oliver Bunic

Sustainable food systems vital to achieving 2030 Agenda nutrition targets – UN Rome-based agencies

17 October 2016
Opening its 43rd plenary session in Rome today in the wake of major global agreements on sustainable development and climate change, the main United Nations body focused on food security and nutrition, called for an urgent transformation of the world’s food system and nutrition to eradicate all forms of extreme poverty, hunger, and malnutrition by 2030.
A mother holds her child while eating a slice of watermelon in Niamey the capital of Niger.
UNICEF/Giacomo Pirozzi

Only one out of six children under the age of two worldwide receives adequate nutrition – UNICEF

14 October 2016
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has issued a new report today with the alarming statistic that five out of six children worldwide under two years old are not receiving adequate nutrition for growth and brain development.
Child's arm being measured to assess his nutritional state at a feeding centre in Dahakula village, Bangladesh.
WFP/S. Noorani

UN health agency calls for multi-sectoral approach to deal with 'double burden' of malnutrition in south-east Asia

7 September 2016
While announcing a strategic action plan to deal with the issue, the United Nations health agency today called for a whole-of-society approach to address the double burden of malnutrition which affects populations across south-east Asia, particularly women and girls.
A group of young men in Somaliland’s capital, Hargeisa, take a break from an informal football match. Youth unemployment in Somaliland is among the highest in the world at between 60 and 70 per cent.
<a href=http://www.irinnews.org/report/101754/somaliland-losing-youth-to-lure-of-europe>Adrian Leversby/IRIN</a>

Child-directed advertising must be better regulated to curb adverse impacts – UN experts

10 August 2016
Just head of International Youth Day, two United Nations human rights experts are drawing attention to the impact of commercial advertising directed at young children that instils, at an early age, over-consumption and indebtedness, and have urged the Governments to redefine those child-directed advertisements.
Child malnutrition costs Ghana more than $2 billion annually.
WFP/Nyani Quarmyne

Undernutrition in Ghana takes huge human and economic toll – new UN study

2 August 2016
The economy of Ghana has been losing some $2.6 billion annually – or 6.4 per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP) – due to child undernutrition, according to a new United Nations study launched today in the country’s capital, Accra.
Credit: FAO
FAO

Fighting obesity and micronutrient deficiency with nuclear science

20 May 2016
General News

Nuclear science is helping Latin American and Caribbean countries to combat what one expert calls “the double burden” of malnutrition and obesity.

Audio -
Photo: WHO/SEARO/Anuradha Sarup
WHO/SEARO/Anuradha Sarup

Most countries lack adequate laws to protect and promote breastfeeding – UN

9 May 2016
Laws to protect breastfeeding against the growing multi-billion-dollar breast-milk substitute business are inadequate in most countries, exposing small children to a greater risk of childhood diseases, according to a United Nations report released today.