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 I am delighted to announce the release of my book titled “The Power of Transformative Multisectoral Nutrition Programming: A Guide to its Science, Ethics and Practice”.

Note: This post expands on my previous article " Oil Crisis Today, Food Crisis Tomorrow "  See also ¨A War's Hidden Price" 'explainer video' at bottom of the article. A severely malnourished boy in Hajjah, Yemen. (Hani Mohammed/Associated Press) The Chain — gas, fertiliser, food prices, malnourished children The connection between a missile strike on a Qatari gas plant and a severely malnourished child may not be immediately obvious to many observers of the Iran war. Yet there is a direct chain of cause and effect that could lead, later this year, to a major crisis in child nutrition across Asia and Africa. To understand why the effective closure of a narrow strait threatens the food security of billions, it is necessary to understand the invisible architecture upon which modern agriculture depends — combining nitrogen from the atmosphere with hydrogen from natural gas to produce ammonia, the base from which all synthetic nitrogen fertilisers are created. Wit...

Western media today are riveted by the immediate shockwaves of the US-Israeli war against Iran — the overnight surge of Brent crude past $100 a barrel, the tumbling of stock markets from Tokyo to London to New York, and the inconclusive scramble among G7 finance ministers to agree on a release of strategic oil reserves. These are real and serious disruptions. But these market tremors mask a more slow-moving crisis unfolding in the shadow of the Strait of Hormuz.

Nutrition Survey Finds Unprecedented Level of Child Malnutrition in Sudan's North Darfur / UN Describes El-Fasher as "Crime Scene" After First Access Author: UNICEF Press Release / Faisal Ali and News Agencies Publication: UNICEF / Al Jazeera Date: December 29-30, 2025 Click here for the UNICEF article / Click here for the Al Jazeera article Summary A UN team gained access to el-Fasher on December 27 for the first time since the RSF takeover on October 26, describing the largely deserted city as a "crime scene."

Ultra-processed food: from first tastes to lifelong habits The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health November 18, 2025 Click here for the article Summary Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) have become ubiquitous in global diets, with UNICEF's 2025 Child Nutrition Report showing 60% of adolescents globally and more than 50% of children aged 6-23 months in 13 of 20 low-income and middle-income countries surveyed consumed a sweet beverage or food in the previous day. In some high-income countries, 

Editor's Note:  While Rovina's Choice illuminates the devastating impact of cuts in USAID, its message extends far beyond one agency. The film confronts us with a stark reality: behind every foreign aid debate lie families forced to make impossible choices. Through one mother's struggle to feed her children, we witness the human cost of policy decisions made in distant capitals.  Please share this film widely. Send it to friends and family. Show it in your faith communities and civic groups. These stories need to be seen. -------- Hi everyone, The New Yorker has produced a 25 minute documentary on severe malnutrition and the impact of the USAID shutdown. Its called Rovina’s Choice. Atul Gawande narrates it. I think it’s brilliant. They have decided to make the film available without subscription via their YouTube channel. Please have a look.  Consider: how best to promote this work. How would Jim Grant have dealt with today’s situation? Many of you knew him very well an...

Maggots in the meals, glass in the rice: Indonesia’s free school meals tainted by food poisoning Michael Neilson The Guardian Click here for the article. Summary

Sudan’s Life-Saving Community Kitchens on Verge of Collapse Barbara Plett Usher BBC News Click here for the article . Summary A network of community kitchens that has kept millions of Sudanese alive during the civil war is close to collapse, according to Islamic Relief. The locally run kitchens, staffed by volunteers, operate in conflict areas beyond the reach of international aid agencies but now face closure because of exhaustion, shortages, and dwindling funds after U.S. aid cuts earlier this year. Many depend on donations from the Sudanese diaspora, but volunteers report uncertainty about whether they can cook each day. In besieged cities like el-Fasher and Kadugli, famine conditions have been confirmed, with some kitchens reduced to serving animal fodder before the RSF took control. The report warns that the volunteer networks, hailed as a model for locally led humanitarian action, are now running out of money, fuel, and safe access, leaving millions without food. Quotes ...

‘If there’s a free alternative, I’ll eat healthily’: how Sweden devised brilliant school meals Jonna Dagliden Hunt The Guardian Click here for the article . Summary A Swedish pilot led by Vinnova is reshaping school meals by adding a morning “energy bar” with juice shots and overnight oats made from supermarket surplus, redesigning canteens with student input, and using a “snowball method” to scale local changes. The initiative—built on Sweden’s universal, nutritious free school-meal system—aims to keep pupils on campus, reduce food waste, and boost engagement, and has informed the country’s updated food strategy and 2025 school-meal guidelines. Officials say long-term success will require other actors to take over funding and coordination so the model can expand beyond the pilot. Quotes “If there’s a free alternative at school, then I might consider eating something healthy.” “Key players need to step in or step up. Together.” “For some students, this may be the only cooked...

Subscribe Past Issues RSS Translate PRESS RELEASE Food is a Human Right. 13 October 2025   On Thursday 16 October, United Staff for Gaza will mobilize to mark World Food Day . We will gather at 5pm at the monument to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Eleanor Roosevelt in the north-east corner of the garden at United Nations Headquarters. We  will reaffirm the right to food  and voice sorrow, disapproval and outrage at the use starvation as a weapon of war against civilian populations. We will express relief  at the agreement to a ceasefire in Gaza and will redouble calls for the unrestricted supply of humanitarian aid at scale. We will turn our thoughts  to the victims of starvation in Gaza. The provisional agenda is as follows: Words of welcome by the United4Gaza Initiative. Statement by Mr. Michael Fakhri, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food. Statement by Mr. Jamie McGoldrick, Senior Adviser to United Staff for Gaza, former UN Humanitarian C...

UNRWA 2 days ago • Visible to anyone on or off LinkedI A new study published today in The Lancet by UNRWA and partners reinforces the confirmation by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) of famine in hashtag#Gaza City. The findings further underscore the extent of the humanitarian catastrophe and the need for immediate, unimpeded humanitarian aid. Children in Gaza are suffering from preventable causes. This must stop. hashtag#CeasefireNow Read the study: https://lnkd.in/dmc92zxp

  Almost 55,000 Preschool Children in Gaza Acutely Malnourished, Lancet Study Estimates Jason Burke and Andrew Gregory — The Guardian — October 8, 2025 Click here for the article Summary A new Lancet study led by UNRWA estimates that nearly 55,000 children under six in Gaza are acutely malnourished—a figure far higher than previously identified. Drawing on measurements of 220,000 children between January 2024 and August 2025, researchers found a direct correlation between Israeli restrictions on aid and sharp rises in child wasting. Rates doubled after the late-2024 blockade, eased briefly during a ceasefire, then soared again to nearly 16 percent by mid-2025, including 12,800 cases of severe acute malnutrition.

Feeding Profit UNICEF – September 10, 2025 Click here for the article Click here for the full report Summary UNICEF’s Child Nutrition Report 2025 warns that obesity has now overtaken underweight as the most common form of malnutrition among school-aged children and adolescents worldwide.

An oped on a subject which is current….. Fouad Feed them words F.S. Aijazuddin — Dawn Click here for the article Summary F.S. Aijazuddin examines how famine, once understood as a natural or divine calamity, has increasingly become a deliberate human-made weapon, with Gaza as a current example. He traces historical contexts of famine, from biblical accounts to the Bengal famine under British rule, highlighting how political decisions and indifference often determined life or death. He notes parallels with Pakistan’s own dependence on U.S. food aid under the PL-480 programme, which was later withdrawn due to political disagreements rather than agricultural self-sufficiency. The article critiques Israel’s policy toward Gaza, framing famine as a calculated tool of genocide rather than mismanagement. Aijazuddin argues that Palestinians are being deliberately deprived of food and dignity, with starvation becoming a weapon of war. He stresses that international aid, while necessary, re...

A $45 Treatment Can Save a Starving Child. US Aid Cuts Have Frozen the Supply By Apoorva Mandavilli | The New York Times Click here for the article Summary The dismantling of USAID and subsequent US aid cuts have severely disrupted global malnutrition treatment programs, leaving millions of children at risk.

  I hate to spoil your Monday morning or evening, but our world has been turned upside down and inside out, and we are getting “in your face “ blasts like this on a regular basis. And the genocide continues unabated and with full impunity from the civilized world. To what depths has humanity fallen ! Fouad Nine year old malnourished Palestinian girl Mariam Dawwas is carried by her mother in the Rimal neighborhood in Gaza City on August 2 2025. Her mother stated that Mariam weighed 25 kilograms before the conflict but has since dropped to 10 kilograms, despite having no prior illnesses. Palestinian Videos on Instagram  Experts officially declared famine on August 22, 2025.... More than half a million people in the Gaza Strip are facing catastrophic hunger conditions while more than a million more are in a food emergency phase, the report states.

  Good nutrition is a cornerstone of a child's survival, growth and development, empowering them to learn, engage, and to contribute positively to society. Conversely, malnutrition can hinder this progress, curtailing their futures before they even begin.

“Severe malnutrition is spreading among children faster than aid can reach them, and the world is watching it happen. Since April this year, the reported number of children who have died from malnutrition has jumped from 52 to 80 - a staggering 54 per cent increase in less than three months, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. In just 48 hours, at least four more children reportedly died of starvation. In total, more than 100 people have died from malnutrition during this war, and 80 per cent of them are children.

Click here to download the report Child malnutrition estimates for the indicators of stunting, wasting, overweight and underweight describe the magnitude and patterns of malnutrition aligned with the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Target 2.2.