Five UN agencies to report on progress towards zero hunger

Rome, July 2 (IANS/AKI) The heads of the Food and Agriculture Organization, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the United Nations Children's Fund, the World Food Programme and the World Health Organization will, on July 15 in New York, unveil a new update on progress in eliminating hunger worldwide, the FAO said in a statement on Tuesday.

FAO Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva, IFAD President Gilbert F. Houngbo, UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta H. Fore, WFP Executive Director David Beasley and WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus will attend the report's launch, according to the statement.

The new report gives an updated estimate of the number of hungry people in the world, including regional and national breakdowns, and the latest data on child stunting and wasting as well as on adult and child obesity, said the statement.

Although steady progress has been made in recent years - undernourishment is down 17 per cent since 1992 - some 842 million people are estimated to be suffering from chronic hunger that prevents them from leading an active life, according to the Rome-based FAO.

Severe acute malnutrition affects nearly 20 million preschool-age children, mostly from Africa and South-East Asia, and the vast majority of hungry people (who number 827 million), live in developing regions, according to the FAO.

The forthcoming report also analyses the drivers of hunger and malnutrition, and this year includes a special focus on the impact of economic slowdowns and downturns, the statement said.