Supporting local farmers and food producers is crucial to promote sustainable, healthy diets in a context where overweight and obesity rates around the world continue to grow mainly due to the over consumption of highly processed foods.
FAO and the Government of Kuwait have agreed that the UN agency will open a Partnership and Liaison Office in the country in order to step up joint efforts to end hunger and poverty, boost nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture in the Near East region.
FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu vowed to Council day to boost transparency across the Organization and introduced new institutional structures to achieve stronger results in two of his focus areas – innovation and the interests of SIDS, LDCs and LLDCs.
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) today launched the United Nations’ International Year of Plant Health (IYPH) for 2020, which aims to raise global awareness on how protecting plant health can help end hunger, reduce poverty, protect the environment, and boost economic development.
Promoting traditional healthy diets is important for advancing our efforts towards a food system that respects the environment, culture and well-being of people, which is a fundamental element of sustainable development. That was the main message at an event organized today by the Government of Italy with support from FAO.
A 1,200-year-old farming and fishing site known as the “Horta” (garden) of Valencia has been recognized on the register of Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS), managed by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

26 November 2019 from 15:00 to 16:00 CEST ( 09:00-10:00 EDT)

On Tuesday November 26th the Accelerated Reduction Effort on Anaemia (AREA) Community of Practice (CoP) is hosting the webinar: Simultaneous implementation of interventions to prevent anaemia. Are there any risks?

The webinar will explore this topic through a discussion with Professor Stanley Zlotkin and Dr Reina Engle-Stone.

More information can be found at the WHO Nutrition website here

Registration can be found here

Simultaneous implementation of interventions to prevent anaemia. Are there any risks?

Nutritional anaemias co-occur in various population groups. Thus, it is desirable to implement a combination of essential nutrition actions to address this public health problem, but it may lead to potentially excessive intakes of one or more micronutrients. This is especially relevant in settings where multiple stakeholders work to deliver public health interventions such as fortification of staple foods, biofortification and iron supplementation.

The excessive consumption of iron could have harmful consequences on the health and development of individuals and populations. They range from mild gastrointestinal side effects to increased risk of preterm delivery.

As interventions to reduce anaemia scale-up, several questions arise: Are the safety concerns justified? Is it possible to estimate the risks of delivering multiple interventions? If so, how?

Join the webinar to discuss this topic by registering here. You can also register to become a member of the AREA CoP, by clicking on the following link:

The Community of Practice (CoP) aims to support members of the global community dedicated to improving and scaling up existing methods and strategies for anaemia reduction in a holistic and cohesive manner; to build consensus for engagement in AREA at the global, regional and national level and commit to the achievement of the Global Nutrition Targets 2025 endorsed by the 65th World Health Assembly.

Through South-South Cooperation, countries across the global South are successfully exchanging technical expertise and building innovative partnerships, which if strengthened, can continue to play a crucial role in the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.
FAO Director-General, Qu Dongyu, said today partnerships with the private sectors are vital for raising production and nutrition levels for the world’s most vulnerable people who are poor or undernourished.
Fishing is one of the most dangerous occupations in the world, and human rights abuses are increasing in fisheries and aquaculture, FAO Deputy Director-General for Climate and Natural Resources, Maria Helena Semedo, said today.