Catwalk the World
The campaign to stop child hunger is one of the most important issues for the United Nations and the Global Development goal of halving hunger worldwide by 2015.
All over the world, organizations, companies and institutions are embarking on various programmes to help solve hunger, which is predominant on the African continent. On the 22nd of December, Ghana would be hosting a world wide campaign by The World Food Programme (UN WFP) and Health PR for Stop Child Hunger in Accra. The campaign titled: CatWALK THE WORLD - "Fashion for Food" is the latest move by UN WFP and Health PR to Fight Child Hunger not only in Africa but also across the world.
This International campaign would consist of high profile fashion shows around the world with the biggest and most famous designers representing their respective countries.
Catwalk THE WORLD will be used to create awareness and generate funds for the millions of children suffering from hunger and hunger- related diseases and to get more children in school, especially girls, by making sure they receive one nutritious meal per day.
Speaking at the launch of the programme in Accra, the Chairman of Catwalk the World International, Mr. Obaro Ibru, a Nigerian, said the aim of the programme is also to supplement the government's School Feeding Programme.
He said: "Although significant progress has been made in meeting macro-economic targets, the nutritional status of children is still of concern. One in three children under five years old is stunted and one in five is underweight".
The Country Director of the UN World Food Programme, Trudy Bower-Pirinis, said to address child hunger in Ghana; the United Nations World Food Programme is supporting the Ghana Health Service with complementary feeding for pregnant and nursing mothers and children under five years old who lack access to nutritional food. "The food assistance programme provides them with nutritional rations which are fortified with micro-nutrients such as iron, iodine and Vitamin A, essential for growth and brain development Complementary feeding combined with health services and nutrition education provides an integrated package of services to address child malnutrition and mortality in Ghana", she said.
She said the WFP is committed to purchasing 60% of the commodities for the community based feeding programmes within Ghana, thereby supporting Ghanaian farmers with a value of US$10million.
"WFP is also supporting the development of supply chains of locally produced fortified commodities such as the corn Soya blend, iodized salt and palm oil, which contain the daily requirements of vitamin and minerals, essential for growth, brain development and protection against disease", she said.
Trudy Bower-Pirinis said proceeds from the catwalk will assist WFP to buy more food from Ghanaian farmers to end child hunger in Ghana.
"The Catwalk is to further advocate for the elimination of child hunger in Africa in line with the Millennium Development Goal 1", she said.
The Fashion For Food campaign was launched in April 2006 and will after Accra continue in Ethiopia and South Africa and move across the globe starting with: Monrovia-Liberia, Freetown- Sierra Leone, Dakar-Senegal and other African capitals followed by Dubai-UAE, London-UK, Paris-France, Rome-Italy, Madrid-Spain, Copenhagen-Denmark, New York-USA, Sao Paolo-Brazil, New Delhi-India, Hong Kong-China, Tokyo-Japan, Trinidad Tobago-West Indies and Sydney-Australia.