3 New Reports On Nutrition Call For Increased Efforts To Reach Zero Hunger, Address Climate Change, Fix Global Food System

Associated Press: U.N.: Climate change, depleted resources leave world hungry
“Feeding a hungry planet is growing increasingly difficult as climate change and depletion of land and other resources undermine food systems, the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization said Wednesday as it renewed appeals for better policies and technologies to reach ‘zero hunger.’ Population growth requires supplies of more nutritious food at affordable prices, but increasing farm output is hard given the ‘fragility of the natural resource base’ since humans have outstripped Earth’s carrying capacity in terms of land, water, and climate change, the report said. About 820 million people are malnourished. The FAO and International Food Policy Research Institute released the report at the outset of a global conference aimed at speeding up efforts to achieve zero hunger around the world…” (Kurtenbach, 11/28).

The Guardian: Global food system is broken, say world’s science academies
“The global food system is broken, leaving billions of people either underfed or overweight and driving the planet towards climate catastrophe, according to 130 national academies of science and medicine across the world. Providing a healthy, affordable, and environmentally friendly diet for all people will require a radical transformation of the system, says the report by the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP). This will depend on better farming methods, wealthy nations consuming less meat, and countries valuing food which is nutritious rather than cheap…” (Carrington, 11/28).

Thomson Reuters Foundation: ‘What we’re eating is killing us’: global nutrition report
“Poor diets are among the top causes of ill health globally, accounting for nearly one in five deaths, according to a study published on Thursday that called on governments and businesses to do more to improve eating habits. Eating unhealthy food, or not having enough food — including children unable to breastfeed — contribute to widespread malnutrition, said researchers behind the latest Global Nutrition Report. The report is an independently produced annual analysis of the state of the world’s nutrition…” (Win, 11/29).

Additional coverage of the reports is available from Al Jazeera, Axios, Devex, and U.S. News & World Report.

The KFF Daily Global Health Policy Report summarized news and information on global health policy from hundreds of sources, from May 2009 through December 2020. All summaries are archived and available via search.

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