World conference on Hunger opens in London today to boost efforts to tackle mal-nutrition across the globe. The British Prime Minister, Mr. David Cameron, will host the conference. Politicians from Brazil, Kenya, Bangladesh, India and the Republic of Ireland along with a number of Sports stars will attend the Meet. Taking advantage of the large number of foreign officials gathered in London for the Olympic Games, Cameron is to urge international action to save 25 million children from stunted growth over the next four years. Mr. Cameron has pledged 120 million pounds from Britain to fund research into drought-resistant and vitamin-enhanced crops for Africa and South Asia. The conference comes ahead of the closing ceremony for the London Olympics today, which will see the Olympic flame extinguished in the British capital and organisers hand over to the Rio 2016 team.
Women and Child Development Minister Krishna Tirath is representing India at the conference. An official statement says, the event is aimed at raising the level of political commitment by the international community to create new kinds of partnerships and develop new products and services which will enable in addressing this global scourge. Our correspondent reports that a new global target to reduce the number of stunted children, caused due to under-nutrition, by 40 per cent by 2025 has been agreed to by the World Health Assembly. The Scaling Up Nutrition, SUN movement, to which 28 countries have already signed, is developing a framework for monitoring progress of efforts to reduce stunting. The G8 ‘New Alliance on Food and Nutrition Security’ is also committed to suppor SUN in its efforts.