Keynote Proposal 4

• Director, Japan Office, The United Nations World Food Programme(WFP)

Global hunger population has risen from 790 million in the mid 1990s to 852 million today. Hunger and malnutrition claim some 10 million lives per year. Fewer that 10 percent of those deaths occur in emergencies such as conflicts and natural disasters. Deaths from AIDS, Malaria, and Tuberculosis combined amount to 5.6 million every year, much fewer than the deaths attributable to hunger and malnutrition. Asia, the world fs fastest-growing region, still has more hungry people than the rest of the world combined. Over half a billion people in the region are chronically undernourished. 17% of children in Asia regularly go to bed hungry.
Child hunger irreversibly cripples human potential. It retards the physical and mental development of individuals, slows the progress of nations with negative economic impact. This can have tragic consequences for them and the next generation. Child hunger is more than an empty stomach. Its effects last for all life, and WFP is committed to play an important leadership role to wipe out child hunger, and calls for large-scale, coordinated, and targeted action in partnership with national governments, other UN agencies, and non-governmental organizations.