PM meets WFP new representative

Prime Minister Mohammed Salem Basindwa met here on Saturday with the newly appointed representative of the World Food Programme (WFP) in Yemen Bishaw Parajuli. During the meeting, Basindwa and Parajuli discussed aspects of the current and future cooperation between Yemen and the WFP to encounter food shortage, especially in the food-poorest areas in a number of governorates targeted by the government and the WFP. The WFP official briefed the Prime Minister on joint programs scheduled to be implemented in the remaining period of the current year in coordination with the Education Ministry.

World cereal production to rise 6.5 pct in 2013/14-FAO

World cereal production is expected to rise 6.5 percent in 2013/14 to reach a record 2.46 billion tonnes, mainly due to higher wheat output and a rebound in maize production in the United States, the United Nations food agency said on Thursday. A likely replenishment in world cereal stocks could lead to easing prices in the new season, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said in its biannual Food Outlook report.

Ten ways to save a million lives

June 10 - In London on 8 June, UK Prime Minister David Cameron, together with an array of presidents, prime ministers, businesspeople and philanthropists, signed the Global Nutrition for Growth Compact, an agreement to improve the nutrition of children and pregnant women around the world. Inside the meeting room, organizers said they had secured new commitments of up to US$4.15 billion to tackle undernutrition between now and 2020. (..) The World Food Programme (WFP) has welcomed the proposed package. Its executive director, Ertharin Cousin, told IRIN, “We believe that it’s very helpful, a recognition that the provision of interventions does make a difference in an area where WFP has a comparative advantage - distributing micronutrient support to mothers and to children."

Our Collective Failure To Address Malnutrition Is a Glaring Scandal of the 21st Century

June 8 - As we gather in London this weekend for the Nutrition for Growth Summit, we should remind ourselves that while stunting was long ago banished from the streets of this city, it is still very much a reality in the developing world. (..) Although we have made considerable progress in recent years, most notably with the new focus on the 1,000 days window from the start of a woman's pregnancy to her baby's second birthday, there is room for more progress. (..) The London Nutrition for Growth Summit provides a golden opportunity to forge a partnership to provide comprehensive nutritional cover for adolescent girls and all women of reproductive age. If we can do this in London, then we have a genuine opportunity to consign stunting to the pages of history, once and for all.