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MSF calls for donor countries to improve food aid nutrition standards on eve of World Food Day

Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) released a statement in advance of Saturday's World Food Day saying that the "world's biggest donors of food aid ... continued to supply and fund nutritionally 'substandard' food to developing countries, despite scientific evidence showing it was of little value in reducing child malnutrition," Reuters AlertNet reports.

18 Oct 2010

Former U.N. Secretary-General, Gates Foundation CEO, Ethiopian official address World Food Prize conference

In a speech at the World Food Prize conference on Thursday, former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan discussed several topics related to food security and said that discrimination against women is limiting agricultural development in Africa, the Des Moines Register reports.

18 Oct 2010

ACDI/VOCA observes World Food Day

This World Food Day, Oct. 16, the global community has good news to celebrate. Recent agricultural and economic gains have pushed the number of hungry people below 1 billion. That drop is a 9.6 percent decline since last year according to the U.N.'s Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO).

15 Oct 2010

World Food Prize recipients call for investment in agriculture in developing countries

The 2010 World Food Prize recipients say despite the economic situation "it's no time for the United States to back off a historic pledge to invest in boosting the production of the world's poorest farmers," the Des Moines Register reports.

15 Oct 2010

IRIN examines forthcoming U.N. child malnutrition program; IPS reports on FAO Latin American report

IRIN looks at a planned U.N. initiative to combat early childhood malnutrition and the questions surrounding it.

15 Oct 2010

World Food Prize symposium to give out award; focus on issues facing smallholder farmers

Global agriculture officials and as many as 60 farmers from around the world this week at the annual World Food Prize symposium in Des Moines, Iowa will focus on the challenges facing small farmers, the Associated Press reports.

14 Oct 2010

Global Hunger Index shows importance of addressing childhood malnutrition

The Global Hunger Index released Monday finds that many developing countries primarily in South Asia and Latin America have made significant progress in reducing hunger.

13 Oct 2010

USAID awards $15 million grant to Tufts University for CRSP program

Eileen T. Kennedy, DSc, Dean of the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University announced today that the school has been awarded two grants totaling $15 million by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The USAID "Leader with Associates (LWA) Award" was granted to the school to serve as the Management Entity for a new Nutrition Collaborative Research Support Program (CRSP) in Africa and Asia. This is the first CRSP to be awarded by USAID in nearly 25 years.

13 Oct 2010

Committee on World Food Security meeting begins in Rome

A high-level meeting of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) Committee on World Food Security aimed at addressing food insecurity, price rises and the purchase of large amounts of agricultural land in developing countries started in Rome on Monday, Agence France-Presse/Capital FM reports.

12 Oct 2010

Canada, U.S., International Finance Corporation agree to contribute $100M for private-sector agricultural program

An agreement to contribute $100 million for a private-sector program to increase agricultural output in poor countries was announced by Canada, the U.S. and the [World Bank's] International Finance Corp [IFC] on Friday, Reuters reports

12 Oct 2010

Research reveals new details about health benefits of fish-oil

Some of America's most popular fish salmon and albacore tuna, for example are rich in healthful natural compounds known as omega-3 fatty acids. Ongoing studies by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) chemist Darshan S. Kelley and co-investigators are helping uncover new details about how these fish-oil components help protect us from chronic diseases.

12 Oct 2010

Sec. of State Clinton, other officials launch initiative to provide mobile phones to 150M women in the developing world

Officials gathered in Washington, D.C. on Thursday to launch mWomen, an initiative aimed at increasing access to mobile phones to further health and development benefits among women in the developing countries, the Telegraph reports.

11 Oct 2010

GSU professor receives USDA grant to study dynamics of childhood obesity

A Georgia State University professor has received a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant to look at the obesity trends from childhood to adolescence.

11 Oct 2010

University of Missouri creates National Botanical Research Center with $7.5M NIH grant

Americans spend $25 billion a year on dietary supplement products such as herbs and other botanicals. While the Nutrition Business Journal forecasts that sales of botanical dietary supplements will increase by about 19 percent over the next five years, scientists still don't know the precise properties that make certain plants helpful or harmful to humans. Now, with a new $7.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, University of Missouri researchers have created a National Botanical Research Center to answer these questions.

11 Oct 2010

Experts explore issues in production and consumption of meat and dairy products

Join the authors of The Meat Crisis for an event that explores the issues surrounding the global growth in the production and consumption of meat and dairy animals and products.

8 Oct 2010

N.Y. officials seek to ban purchase of sugary drinks with food stamps

"New Yorkers on food stamps would not be allowed to spend them on sugar-sweetened drinks under an obesity-fighting proposal being floated by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Gov. David Paterson. Bloomberg and Paterson planned to announce Thursday that they are seeking permission from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers the nation's food stamp program, to add sugary drinks to the list of prohibited goods for city residents receiving assistance. If approved, it would be the first time an item would be banned from the federal program based solely on nutritional value" (Kugler Frazier, 10/7).

8 Oct 2010

Twenty-two countries face 'protracted crises,' increased likelihood of food insecurity, U.N. report says

Twenty-two countries "are facing enormous challenges like repeated food crises and an extremely high prevalence of hunger due to a combination of natural disasters, conflict and weak institutions," the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization's and the World Food Program said in the State of Food Insecurity in the World 2010 report on Wedensday, Xinhua News reports.

7 Oct 2010

Scientists develop first screening method to identify river blindness disease

Scientists from The Scripps Research Institute have developed the first screening method that rapidly identifies individuals with active river blindness, a parasitic disease that afflicts an estimated 37 million people. The test could change the current strategy of mass treatment in areas where river blindness, also known as onchocerciasis, is suspected.

7 Oct 2010

Researchers find exposure to air pollution increases severity of asthma symptoms

Exposure to dirty air is linked to decreased function of a gene that appears to increase the severity of asthma in children, according to a joint study by researchers at Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley.

6 Oct 2010

EU called upon to tackle problem of chronic non-communicable diseases

Members of the European Parliament are calling on the Presidency of the EU and Member States to tackle urgently the problem of chronic non-communicable diseases that are responsible for 86% of all deaths in the WHO European Region. Their call is supported by an alliance of European health professionals, including ECCO - the European CanCer Organisation - and ESMO - the European Society for Medical Oncology.

5 Oct 2010

Agriculture News and Research

MSF calls for donor countries to improve food aid nutrition standards on eve of World Food Day

Former U.N. Secretary-General, Gates Foundation CEO, Ethiopian official address World Food Prize conference

ACDI/VOCA observes World Food Day

World Food Prize recipients call for investment in agriculture in developing countries

IRIN examines forthcoming U.N. child malnutrition program; IPS reports on FAO Latin American report

World Food Prize symposium to give out award; focus on issues facing smallholder farmers

Global Hunger Index shows importance of addressing childhood malnutrition

USAID awards $15 million grant to Tufts University for CRSP program

Committee on World Food Security meeting begins in Rome

Canada, U.S., International Finance Corporation agree to contribute $100M for private-sector agricultural program

Research reveals new details about health benefits of fish-oil

Sec. of State Clinton, other officials launch initiative to provide mobile phones to 150M women in the developing world

GSU professor receives USDA grant to study dynamics of childhood obesity

University of Missouri creates National Botanical Research Center with $7.5M NIH grant

Experts explore issues in production and consumption of meat and dairy products

N.Y. officials seek to ban purchase of sugary drinks with food stamps

Twenty-two countries face 'protracted crises,' increased likelihood of food insecurity, U.N. report says

Scientists develop first screening method to identify river blindness disease

Researchers find exposure to air pollution increases severity of asthma symptoms

EU called upon to tackle problem of chronic non-communicable diseases

Industry Focus eBook - Analytical Chemistry (2nd Edition) eBook

Designing fluidic architecture for scalable diagnostic platforms

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

Expanding access to NMR with the Fourier 80 Duo

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