The 32nd Session of the FAO Regional Conference for Europe started today as FAO Members from Europe and Central Asia will discuss several challenges facing the region on food and agriculture, particularly how to promote sustainable agri-food systems and healthy diets as well as solutions for youth, employment and developing rural areas.

Over the past five years, UNSCN has published a range of papers (visit our Resources library here). We have prepared a short survey to collect your feedback on some of these documents and gain insight to what extent they have served your needs. This will help us sharpen our knowledge management while UNSCN will transition into UN Nutrition in 2021.

The survey should only take around 10 minutes of your time and is open until Wednesday 11 November 2020.

With the evolution of UNSCN to UN Nutrition you are also welcome to share any other comments, experiences or feelings by sending us an email at info@unscn.org

UNSCN publications

UNICEF, WHO, CDC and Nutrition International have released the Micronutrient Survey Manual and digitized Toolkit. Nutrition stakeholders around the world can now access expanded and digitized resources needed to conduct micronutrient surveys and evaluations.

Globally, at least 1 in 2 children under 5 suffers from hidden hunger due to deficiencies in vitamins and other essential micronutrients. Hidden hunger harms children - it undermines their capacity to grow, develop and learn to their full potential. Accurate and reliable nutrition data provides evidence for policy makers to better understand and tackle this nutrition problem. 

The user-friendly format of the new survey manual and toolkit allows program managers, researchers and government officials alike to access and search the entire knowledge library of best practices and resources for micronutrient status assessment on an interactive website. There is also a downloadable platform that functions just like the website and enables these resources to be accessible to users offline. The content includes 16 modules of information and more than 200 tools, examples and resources in a searchable platform.

 

Early and ongoing rains have led to a new cycle of breeding and fresh swarms are forming in Ethiopia, Somalia and Yemen. Immature hopper bands have also been identified in Eritrea, The Sudan and Saudi Arabia and are likely to form new swarms.
Around 900 delegates including 95 ministers and other government officials from 48 countries have met in the context of rising food insecurity and malnutrition exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and multiple overlapping crisis - climate change, transboundary pests and diseases, conflict and economic downturns.
FAO and African Union launch Regional Outlook on Gender and Agrifood Systems
Efforts to prevent, halt and reverse the degradation of ecosystems worldwide must be scaled up to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, said FAO in a new publication released today.
Agriculture ministers from across Africa, representatives from the African Union, the civil society and the private sector, and other partners, recognized the role FAO’s Hand-in-Hand Initiative can play in ending poverty and hunger.
"We meet in trying times, but the opportunities ahead of us give me hope," the FAO Director-General. "Africa is the continent of untapped potential and remains a key priority for me. I am convinced that agricultural and rural development are the keys to winning the battle against poverty and hunger in Africa."
As African swine fever (ASF) marches swiftly across countries affecting food security and livelihoods of some of the world’s most vulnerable populations, FAO and OIE are calling on all nations and partners to join forces to keep this deadly pig disease at bay under a new initiative.