More than 300 million children in the world suffer today from chronic hunger, most of them girls, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said on Monday, urging governments to back a global school meals programme.
"There are currently more than 300 million chronically hungry children in the world today. Some 170 million of them go to school on empty stomachs and don't receive any food during the day, while 130 million don't attend school at all. The majority are girls," the WFP said in a statement.
The statement came on the eve of the 20th World Food Day, an annual event organised by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation whose theme this year is "Fight Hunger to Reduce Poverty".
The WFP urged governments and aid agencies worldwide to help it create a programme to provide school meals for undernourished children, saying this would dramatically improve their concentration and academic performance.
"Feeding and educating children are key to closing the gap between rich and poor," said WFP executive director Catherine Bertini. "School feeding (is) a simple but effective tool to help exterminate poverty."
"Some people exploit ignorance and poor children are the most susceptible," she said.
The WFP provides meals to more than 12 million school children in 54 countries and has been operating for nearly 40 years.
"Giving a nutritious meal to a poor student today is key to helping him or her become a literate, socially-responsible adult tomorrow," Bertini said -- Rome, (AFP)
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