NUTRITION

Zero Hunger. On December 4, several countries in the Latin American and Caribbean region signed the document “We commit to be the Zero Hunger Generation”. Promoted by the special Zero Hunger Ambassador of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) for the region, Guadalupe Valdez, the document calls for countries to adopt regulations guaranteeing sufficient healthy food to feed the entire population. This process has already begun, as the FAO announced that they are working together with Costa Rica to update the country’s food guides to improve their eating habits. This cooperative work could be replicated in other countries in the coming months.

The document assumes as a priority the need to build a world without hunger and malnutrition and contains recommendations and actions to be taken by countries in the region. It also establishes that the fight against hunger is tantamount to the struggle “for justice, health, peace, coexistence, sustainable development, equality, life, and for a civilization that guarantees the right to food.” The signatories pledged to do whatever is necessary to get their parliaments to approve “legislation guaranteeing healthy food for the entire population.”

The document was signed by Jairo Flores, coordinator of the Parliamentary Front Against Hunger in Latin America and the Caribbean. It was also signed by the President of the Central American Parliament (Parlacen), Irma Amaya, and the President of the Health and Food Safety Committee of that institution, Claudio Marte. Academics and members of the civil society from Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Argentina, Colombia, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Costa Rica, Cuba, Mexico and Venezuela, among others, also signed the agreement. 

Next steps

After the signing of the document “We are committed to being the Zero Hunger Generation” by representatives of Latin America, FAO began its cooperative work with the governments of the region to reduce malnutrition and undernourishment. To this end, it is already working with Costa Rica to update its Food Guidelines to promote the consumption of healthy foods. This mechanism could be replicated in other countries of the region throughout 2020.