WFP executive director urges to help Yemen to combat malnutrition

The World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director has called for helping Yemen find sustainable solutions to combat malnutrition. Ms. Ertharin Cousin made the statement in the meetings of the 40th session of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) being held on 7-11 October at the Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) headquarters in the Italian capital Rome, where a Yemeni delegation takes part. Ms. Cousin has called on the international community not only to provide food aid to Yemen but to help to finding sustainable solutions to combat poverty and malnutrition. She indicted to the high rates of poverty and malnutrition Yemen is suffering from, saying they have reached rates above the hunger level recognized internationally. Cases of stunting have significantly increased among children in Yemen nowadays, WFP Executive Director said. She added that rates of stunting cases raised up to 60 % now compared with 30 % in the seventies of the last century, as one-fifth of Yemen's children suffers from permanent stunting. During the opening session, several statements were delivered by the FAO Director-General and the Executive Director of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), who underscored the need to work on achieving food security in the world. The CFS's session discusses many important topics pertaining to food security, nutrition, the biofuel's impact on food security and supporting investments in smallholder agriculture for realizing food security and nutrition as well as reviewing the annual report on the state of food security and nutrition for 2013.