food

The World Food Programme (WFP) is the food aid branch of the United Nations,and the world's largest humanitarian organisation addressing hunger worldwide.

The United Nations WFP seeks to appoint a Project Manager, based in Johannesburg.

Malnutrition in all its forms is closely linked, either directly or indirectly, to major causes of death and disability worldwide. The causes of malnutrition are directly related to inadequate dietary intake as well as disease, but indirectly to many factors, among others household food security, maternal and child care, health services and the environment. While most nutrition interventions are delivered through the health sector, non-health interventions can also be critical. Actions should target the different causes to reach sustainable change, which requires a multisectoral approach.

In 2009, the World Bank (WB) and the World Food Programme (WFP), in collaboration with the Partnership for Child Development (PCD), published an analysis called Rethinking School Feeding. The analysis was undertaken to better understand the growing demand from countries for school feeding programmes that was sparked by the food, fuel, and financial crises of 2008.

The high and volatile food prices that triggered a renewed interest in food security since the 2008 – 0 9 crisis are expected to continue due to several factors that include the impacts of climate change. Current policy prescriptions focus on food production; however, a broader approach based on food systems is more appropriate as it encompasses all aspects of food production, storage, dist ribution and consumption, all of which will be affected by climate change and especially by the growing frequency and severity of extreme weather events. As most low - income groups in both rural and urban areas are net buyers of food, access and affordabili ty are central concerns. There is also a need for more attention to urban food security .

THE COMPETITION Commission has moved one large step closer to launching an inquiry into the health-care sector with the news that after a three-year delay, the “market inquiry” provision of the Competition Amendment Act will come into effect on April 1.

Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi told Business Report over the weekend that he had been calling for an inquiry into the sector for some time.

“Prices in this sector are artificial and distorted and we certainly look forward to an inquiry if the commission agrees to initiating one.”

Member States (MS) of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) have made important progress in the last decades in reducing child mortality. However, with children under 18 years old representing 48% of the total population in the SADC region, child survival and development remains a key challenge. HIV, TB and malaria are important sources of morbidity and mortality in children. In 2009, there were more than 1 million children under the age of 15 years estimated to be living with HIV within SADC Member States, and in 2010 mother to child transmission of HIV (MTCT) resulted in more than 176,000 new infant infections in the region, with the percentage of MTCT across Member States ranging from 3 to 37%.

South African children have equal rights under the Constitution, but the worlds into which they are born and their opportunities in life are very unequal. This was the message Katharine Hall, senior researcher at the Children’s Institute (CI) at the University of Cape Town shared yesterday at the launched the South African Child Gauge 2012, an annual review on the state of South Africa's children.

The Right to Food and Nutrition Watch 2012 addresses the decision making process on global food and nutrition from this human rights perspective. The question “who decides?” includes the question “who is excluded from decision making?” Food and power are related. It is almost impossible to find one person among the powerful in society and politics worldwide who has not sufficient to eat. The tendency is that exclusion from economic and political decision making goes hand in hand with incidence of hunger and malnutrition.